In this volume, Katharine Dell offers a guide to the nature and character of the Book of Proverbs. She explores its key messages and major theological themes, notably God as creator and Wisdom as mediator, standing at the center of a profound theological relationship between God and humanity. Dell provides an overview of scholarly evaluations of these writings, which explore its literary forms, subdivisions, content, purpose, and social contexts. Summarizing important modern debates, she also examines the intertextual and canonical relationship of Proverbs to other biblical books, the afterlife of Proverbs in wisdom material from the Apocrypha, Qumran, and the New Testament, and the place of Proverbs in the history of interpretation. Her book will help readers to understand the nature and character of the book of Proverbs. It also enables them to assess its key messages and to see its wider context within the canon of scripture and its relevance within the history of interpretation.

‘… Dell has produced a solid book … She is to be commended for engaging much of the secondary literature on Proverbs and on the wisdom literature more generally, as it relates to Proverbs. She exposes the reader to most of the current issues that biblical scholars and theologians are debating about Proverbs today. This volume could be used in any seminary or graduate course in biblical theology or the wisdom literature. It could also be used as a supplementary textbook for a graduate course on Proverbs.’

Mark Sneed Source: Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology