The Formative Wisdom of the "Bread of Life" Discourse

Abstract

The Bible is a wisdom text. This provocative thesis statement defines the purpose of Jeffrey de Waal Dryden’s book, "A Hermeneutic of Wisdom" and drives its content forward in terms of telos, ethical trajectory, and moral goal. After the introduction, and within the first part of this thesis project, I will condense the contents of the book into a conceptual framework by showing the characteristics and convictions of wisdom hermeneutics.In the second part of the project, I will situate the contribution of Dryden’s book within the larger discussion of wisdom hermeneutics and its application to narrative and epistolary texts. N. T. Wright and Richard B. Hays will be the main conversation partners, along with Dryden, in this section. The third section deals with the practical application of narrative hermeneutics to the "Bread of Life" Discourse found in John 6:25 71. Here we discern the key elements of each approach highlighted in part two of the project through a synthesis of narrative hermeneutic methods. This final section will also develop a proposal derived from John's Gospel, brought into contact with Dryden, Wright, and Hays.