The President of St Catharine’s College has published two new books in a little over a month. Professor Katharine Dell (1996) is celebrating the publication of The Theology of the Book of Proverbs (2023, Cambridge University Press) on 31 August and The Lord by Wisdom Founded the Earth: Creation and Covenant in Old Testament Theology (2023, Baylor University Press) on 1 October.
Professor Dell, who is Professor in Old Testament Literature and Theology at the University’s Faculty of Divinity, commented:
“Who knew books could be like buses? They arrive in twos! What looks like careful choreography was actually sheer luck: one book was delayed, and the publication of the other was prompt. These last few weeks aren’t an accurate reflection of academic publication rates and I hope no-one expects another book from me for a good while now!”
Professor Dell with her new books
About The Theology of the Book of Proverbs
Professor 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 centre 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.
She explained, “This new book is intended to help readers to understand the nature and character of the book of Proverbs. It also encourages 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.”
About The Lord by Wisdom Founded the Earth
In this newer volume, Professor Dell illuminates the Old Testament theological themes of creation and covenant, interpreting them through the lens of wisdom. She shifts attention from the Genesis accounts of creation to allow for a fresh reading from texts in Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. She subsequently assesses Genesis and certain "creation" Psalms for similarities and differences. This approach allows the creation theme to be prioritized in new ways and then brought into dialogue with covenant ideas, leading to a reconsideration of Genesis 9, with its profound image of the rainbow as a sign within creation of the covenant between God and the world, and various prophetic texts―passages wherein the close symbiosis of covenant with creation has been overlooked. Furthermore, a "cosmic covenant" emerges over time, a covenant of peace that will characterize the eschatological age, as found in some later prophetic literature.
She added, “In Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman who is with God at the creation of the world, delighting in what God has made. In Job, God appears in theophany and describes the wonders of the earth and heavens. There are thus revealed detailed descriptions of God's work in creation in the wisdom literature. Key themes that emerge from these passages are the foundation of the earth, its division from the heavens and the waters, God's provision of all of nature as well as human and animal life, God's relationship to the world, and the ethics and morality of our human response are key themes that emerge. There is also a wealth of covenant language that includes creation and links up with wisdom texts as well. This is epitomized in Noah's covenant with God and the sign of the rainbow.
“I contend that wisdom literature is often misrepresented for its lack of reference to covenant, demonstrating key relations through intertextual parallels from the Psalms and Deuteronomy. The figure of Wisdom in Proverbs 3 and 8, in the emphases on relationship and communication, anticipates the ultimate merging of themes of Wisdom, creation, covenant, and Torah in later apocryphal texts. Likewise, Solomon emerges as the canonical figurehead of wisdom's "covenant" with humanity and the world.”
