The Book of Proverbs and Virtue Ethics Integrating the Biblical and Philosophical Traditions

In this book, Arthur Keefer offers a new interpretation of the book of Proverbs from the standpoint of virtue ethics. Using an innovative method that bridges philosophy and biblical studies, he argues that much of the instruction within Proverbs meets the criteria for moral and theological virtue as set out in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. Keefer presents the moral thought of Proverbs in its social, historical, and theological contexts. He shows how these contexts shed light on the conceptualization of virtue, the virtues that are promoted and omitted, and the characteristics that make Proverbs a distinctive moral tradition. In giving undivided attention to biblical virtue, this volume opens the way for new avenues of study in biblical ethics, including law, narrative, and other aspects of biblical instruction and wisdom.

Tables; Preface; Note on texts and translation; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Views of virtue in philosophy; 3. Moral virtues in Proverbs; 4. Honor, shame, humility and pride; 5. Courage, work, speech and friendship; 6. Theological virtues in Proverbs; 7. Moral agents and the presentation of virtue; Appendices; Bibliography; Index of ancient sources; Index of authors and topics.

Arthur Keefer is a schoolmaster and chaplain at Eton College, where he teaches theology, philosophy and religion. He is also the author of Proverbs 1-9 as an Introduction to the Book of Proverbs (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2020), along with numerous journal articles, and is a co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Biblical Wisdom Literature.