Wisdom-Centered Life

All people will be able to flourish in a flourishing natural world
Home
About Wisdom
Definitions of wisdom
Chronology of Wisdom Literature in West
Bibliography
A 16th c Wisdom Handbook
Research
Cultivating wisdom
WCL Course
Wisdom links
About Us
Contact Us
Site Map
Spirituality
For contemplating
Good Life
Wisdom Companion
sapientiae documenta, et in primis Graecam Latinamque linguas, sapientiae ipsius auream quasi vestem.

Ioannis PP. XXIII. 1962. Veterum Sapientia, §2.

 

 

Chronology of wisdom literature in the Western tradition

 

This Chronology is not complete and may to an extent be misleading, but will identify many of the key contributions to wisdom literature.  It does not yet go beyond 1700CE other than to mention a couple works. Readers are requested to suggest additions to this list, and by all means to notify me of any errors. There are undoubtedly some!

         That this Chronology juxtaposes quite disparate writings may raise an eyebrow or cause a smile, but all things in due time. There does not seem to exist a comprehensive overview of the concept of wisdom, either globally or in the West. Of course, wisdom has been used in such varying senses that a primary task would seem to be to specify what criteria the historian is using to include a work of literature, or historic example, in hir account. In his anthology, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, W. G. Lambert (1960:1) pointed out that “‘Wisdom’ is strictly a misnomer as applied to Babylonian literature. . . . used for a group of texts which correspond in subject-matter with the Hebrew Wisdom books.”

         The criterion for inclusion in this Chronology is that the author discusses wisdom itself (although this does not hold for the sages of the ancient Near East), or at least describes or defines wisdom in significant (perhaps detailed) manner. Authors who do not describe wisdom explicitly may be included if their use of the concept reveals a definite, although implicit, understanding of wisdom. Once what has been said about wisdom has been gathered together, the task of sorting out what wisdom has meant to human beings, and how that understanding has varied according to time and place, can be taken up. At present, the Chronology is still a “first round”, an initial examination of the literature, the criterion is subject to refinement, and I have not always followed it strictly.

         Wisdom has usually been considered to signify an ultimate achievement for a human being, or rather a particular sort of ultimate, involving knowledge, judgment, and character. It signified the highest knowledge, the highest value, or at least, the highest virtue. The fact that it was of central importance to thoughtful people in the West for so many centuries, until the last two or three centuries in fact, and that over the past fifty years a renewed interest in wisdom has steadily grown, indicates that a thorough investigation of human interest in and insights into wisdom would be useful. It might provide a particularly valuable perspective on our options at a time when the choices humans make will determine the fate of our planet. Contemporary understandings of the universe are markedly different from those of earlier writers on wisdom, but the search for insight into priorities and optimal choices is the same. For the past couple centuries we have grown unaccustomed to bother with this search, but it seems to be urgent at the moment, and our need for wisdom may become more pressing before long. In this need, key insights and methods might be found in the heritage of wisdom literature.

 

A final prefatory note: Although many of these works have never been translated into English, or have not been translated in recent centuries--a reality that gives credibility to the claim that Alisdair MacIntyre's "disquieting suggestion" regarding moral philosophy in After Virtue may indeed be a fact in regard to contemporary understanding of wisdom--most of these works are available on the internet (see the "Wisdom links" page). I have recently made the first English translation of Charles de Bovelles' Liber de Sapiente, and am seeking a publisher with my collaborator Michel Ferrari of the University of Toronto. If, by chance, any visitors are interested in this work, please contact me.

Compiled by RH Trowbridge, PhD. rht@wisdomcenteredlife.org

July 17, 2009

 

 

c2600-c600BCE  Mesopotamian, including Sumerian, Old Babylonian,

                             Akkadian, Cassite, and Assyrian. Roughly, from the

                             Instructions of Shuruppak to Words of Ahiqar.

c2500-c100 BCE  Egyptian, roughly, from Instructions of Hardjedef to the Papyrus Insinger.

c600-c150 BCE  Jewish, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes (and to lesser extent other sections of the Tanakh); Ecclesiasticus and Book of Wisdom (Apocrypha) Book of Enoch.

  469-399         Socrates. See Xenophon, Memorabilia; Plato, Apology

c450                Perictione. On wisdom. (fragments in Stobaeus III.I.120-121).

427-347         Plato. Republic, Apology, Protagoras, etc.

384-322         Aristotle. Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, etc.

c300                Pythagorica. Carmen Aureum.

c106-  43         Marcus Tullius Cicero. De Officiis, Tusculanae Disputationes, etc.

c20BCE-50CE Philo of Alexandria.

4BCE-65CE   Lucius Annaeus Seneca. De Constantia Sapientis, Epistolae Morales, De Tranquillitate Animi, De Vita Beata

  c60-c150       New Testament (particularly Gospels, 1Cor, Ep. James)

c130-c202       Irenaeus. Against the Heresies, “Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching”.

c150-c215       Clement of Alexandria. Stromata.

185-254         Origen. Philokalia. Commentariorum in Evangelium Ioannis (PG14).

flca230            Gregory Thaumatourgos. Oratio Panegyrica in Origenem (PG10:1051-1104).

204-270         Plotinus. Enneads (particularly, I believe, I.2,3,46; IV.4; V.1,8)

3rd c?              Sophia Jesu Christi.

  3rdc?               Hermetica

c300?               Pirkei Avoth (Hebrew: Chapters of the Fathers, פרקי אבות ).

c240 – c320     Lactantius. Divinae Institutiones, (esp. books III: de falsa sapientia & IV: de vera sapientia et religione).

339-397         Ambrose of Milan. De Officiis Ministrorum, De Paradiso, De excessu fratris Satyrus.

  354-430         Augustine of Hippo. De Trinitate, Enchiridion de Fide, Spe, et Charitate, De Beata Vita, De Ordine.

c450                Salonius Viennensis. In Ecclesiasten Expositio Mystica.

c500                Dionysius Areopagiticus (Pseudo-Dionysius). De Divinis Nominibus. De Mystica Theologia.

c500                     Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, De Continentia Vergiliana.

480-524/5      Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. Consolatio Philosophiae.

c480-543         Benedict of Nursia. Regula.

c515-579/80    Martin of Braga. Formula Vitae Honestae [De Quattuor Virtutibus, opusculum].

 flc600               Gregorius Magnus. Moralia (Expositio in Librum

                          Beati Job), Regula Pastoralis.

\780-849           Walafridus Strabo Fuldensis. Liber Proverbiorum.

                          Liber Ecclesiastes. Liber Sapientiae. Liber

                          Ecclesiasticus.

780-856           Rabanus Maurus. De Universo. Commentarii in Librum Sapientiae. Commentarii in Ecclesiasticum.

1033-  1109     Anselmus Cantuariensis. Ennarationes in Cantica Canticorum. De Divinitatis Essentia.

1079 - 1142     Peter Abelard. Theologia Christiana

c1080 -c1154    William of Conches. Glosae super Boetium. Moralium

                          Dogma Philosophorum.

1085 - 1148(?) Guillelmus a Sancto Theoderico. Tractatus De Natura et Dignitate Amoris. Tractatus de Contemplando Deo.

1090 - 1153     Bernardus Claraevallensis (Bernard of Clairvaux). De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae. Sermones in Cantica Canticorum, De consideratione.

1096 - 1141     Hugh of St. Victor. Didascalicon. De Arca Noe Morali. De Sapientia Animae Christi (opusculum).

c1105 -c1160    Peter Lombard. Sententiarum Liber Primus (Dist. 28c6; Dist 32, Dist 34).

          d1172    Gillebertus de Hoilandia. Sermones in Canticum Salomonis, Epistolae, Tractatus Ascetici.

1098 – 1179    Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias III, Liber de Vitae Meritorum. 

          d1173    Richard of  St. Victor. De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem (The Twelve Patriarchs or Benjamin Minor). The Mystical Ark (Benjamin Major). De Trinitate.

12thc?              Auctor Incertus. Vitis Mystica Seu Tractatus De Passione Domini (in the Works of S. Bernardi Claraevallensis).

12thc               Turba Philosophorum. Alchemical work.

1175-1253       Robert Grosseteste.

c1200              Picatrix: Goal of the Sage.

<1245              ps. Alexander of Hales. Summa Fratris Alexandri.

1190->1250     Albertanus Brixiensis (Albertano of Brescia). Liber Consolationis et Consilii (de prudentia, cp 6-9), De amore et dilectione Dei et proximi et aliarum rerum et de forma vitæ; Sermon IV.

         d1264     Vicente De Beauvais. Opus Universale de Statu Principis, Speculum Majus(?).

c1200-1280       Albertus Magnus. Super Ethica (esp. VI & X)

1214-1292/94  Roger Bacon. Opus Majus.     

1217 - 1274     Bonaventura Bagnorensis (St. Bonaventure, John Fidenza). Breviloquium, Itinerarium Mentis in Deo, Commentaria in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum Magistri Petri Lombardi (XXVII, pt2A1Qiii, Conferences on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Conference IX: On The Gift of Wisdom); Hexaëmeron.

1225/7-1274    Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae, Scriptum super

                        Sententiis, etc.

1235-1315       Raymond Lull. Book on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit; De Virtutibus et Peccatis. Liber de gentili et tribus sapientibus

1256-1301/2    Gertrude von Helfta. Legatus divinae pietatis.

c1295-1358       Jean Buridan. Quaestiones super decem libros Ethicorum. In Metaphysicen Aristotelis Quaestiones

  1300-1366       Henry Suso. Büchlein der Ewigen Weisheit (Horologium Sapientiae).

1304-1374       Francesco Petrarch. De Sui Ipsius et Multorum Ignorantia.

c1360-c1415     Jacobus Magnus. Sophilogium. Archologe Sophie

1365-1430       Christine de Pizan. Epistre d’Othea a Hector. Livre des trois vertus [sometimes called Le Tresor de la cite des dames], Livre de Prudence ?

1380-1471       Thomas à Kempis. Vera Sapientia.

1401-1464       Nicholas of Cusa. De Mente, De Docta Ignorantia, Idiota de Sapientia, De Venatione Sapientiae.

1433-1499       Marsilio Ficino. Della Religione Cristiana. Pimander: Mercurii Trismegisti Liber de Sapientia et Potestate Dei

c1413-1454/5    Ambrosius de Spiera. Quadragesimale (i.e., Sermones Quadragesimae) de floribus sapientiae (printed 1476).

  1462-1525      ? Pomponazzi, Pietro. De Immortalitate Animae (1516). De Fato.

1463-1494       Pico della Mirandola. Oratio de hominis dignitate (On the Dignity of Man).

      -d1504       Pelbartus de Themeswar. Sermones Pomerii de sanctis

                         II. [Pars aestivalis].

1466-1536       Desiderius Erasmus. De Pueris Instituendis,

                        Enchiridion Militis Christiani. 

1477-1547       Jacobo Sadoleto. De Laudibus Philosophiae.

1479-1567       Carolus Bovillus (Charles de Bouelles). Liber de

                        Sapiente (1509).

1492-1540       Juan Luis Vives. Introductio ad Sapientiam.

1493-1541       Paracelsus  (Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim). Astronomia Magna, “De Fundamento Scientiarum Sapientaeque, drei Traktate”.

1497-1548       Agostino Steucho. De philosophia perenni.

1501-1576       Girolamo Cardano. De Sapientia (1544), De Sapiente (opusculum)

1506-1580       Jerónimo Osório. De Vera Sapientia.

c1530-c1584     Gerhard Dorn. “Speculativae philosophiae” in Theatrum

                          chemicum I.

1533-1592       Michele de Montaigne. Essais.

1542-1591       Juan de la Cruz. passim.

1547-1606       Justus Lipsius. Manuductio ad Stoicam Philosophiam;

                         De Constantia (1584).

1541-1604       Pierre Charron. De la Sagesse (1600).

c1540-1600       John Case. Speculum Moralium Quaestionum (1585).

1556-1621       Guillaume du Vair. La Philosophie Morale des

                         Stoïques (1585).

1556-1626       François Béroalde de Verville. De la Sagesse (1593).

1562-1626       Oliva Sabuco. Nueva Filosofia de la Naturaleza del

                        Hombre (1587).

 

1573-1626       Francis Bacon. New Atlantis, De Sapientia Veterum. Instauratio Magna: De Augmentis VII, VIII.

1575-1624       Jacob Boehme. Von der Gnadenwahl, 1623 (On predestination, i.e. On election by grace); Tafel der Drey Principen, 1619 (Chart of the three principles) [check this.] XL Questions concerning the Soule.

1629.               Aurora sapientiae.

1596-1650       Rene Descartes. Preface to the French edition of

                        Principles of Philosophy.

1601-1658       Baltasar Gracián Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia (The Art of Worldly Wisdom).

1607-1681       John Pordage. Sophia, das ist, Die holdseelige ewige Jungfrau der göttlichen Weisheit, oder, Wunderbahre geistliche Entdeck- und Offenbahrungen, so die theure Weisheit einer heiligen Seele gegeben [1699] Amsterdam.

1624-1704       Jane Lead. The Laws of Paradise, Given forth by Wisdom to a Translated Spirit.

1632-1677       Benedict Spinoza.

1646-1716       Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Von der Weisheit. Von Glückseeligkeit.  

1668-1744       Giambattista Vico. Scienza Nuova; Orazioni Inaugurali (De Studiorum Finibus Naturae Humanae Convenientibus).

1688-1772       Emanuel Swedenborg. Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore, Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Coniugali,  Angelic Wisdom About Divine Providence. De Divina Sapientia (essay).

1692                John Ray. The Wisdom of God Manifested in the

                        Works of Creation.

1699                Thomas Traherne. Thanksgiving for the Wisdom of

                        the Word.

1844-1900       Friedrich Nietzsche Will to Power; The Birth of

                        Tragedy; Ecce Homo.

1881-1963       Ioannes PP. XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli). Aeterna Dei Sapientia.

1920-2005       Ioannes Paulus PP. II (Karol Józef Wojtyła). Fides et Ratio.

 

Please let me know of suggestions for additions, and please point out any errors in this list. rht@wisdomcenteredlife.org.