Proverbs and the Formation of Character

Bland

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498221658
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book seeks to press the wisdom of Proverbs into active duty in the trenches of everyday life and put the principles of character formation in working clothes. The wisdom Proverbs describes is not designed to master life's challenges but to learn to manage them and adapt. In learning to adapt, individuals grow and mature spiritually. Relying on solid biblical scholarship, this book brings to the fore the neglected sentence literature in Proverbs 10-29 and the vital resources they contribute to the process of character formation. Contrary to popular opinion, the book of Proverbs, even though addressed to youth, is not a book solely for the young, but for those of all ages who desire to continue to grow personally and in their relationship with others and God. The wise in the book of Proverbs employ a plethora of resources to help train up young and old alike to grow into the character of God. Among others, these resources include the value of interacting with others, a healthy understanding of conflict, an appropriate perspective on wealth, a new appreciation for and reliance on the role of the neglected proverb in the education process, and the vital role of family and the faith community. Ultimately the whole process of character formation is founded upon one's relationship with God and the fear of the Lord.

Chapter One

The Journey of Character Formation

Our culture has a fascination with technology. Several years ago David Wells, author of No Place for Truth (1993), spoke about his father, born in 1898, who fought with a sword in the cavalry during the First World War.1 Though his father is deceased, Wells reasoned it is quite possible that within the living memory of some is contained the shift from fighting with swords to fighting with drones and high-tech weaponry.

We have duplicated that kind of advancement in technology in every corner of life. For example, life expectancy has almost doubled in the last century. Science has eradicated many of the diseases that used to cut life short. In his lecture, Wells observed, “We are no longer cold in winter nor hot in summer. We have food from around the world any time of season.”2

This wildfire of technological advance is not in itself a cause of concern. The extraordinary conquest of the outward world does, however, cause us to believe that we can duplicate that success in the inward world of the psyche by similar means. Whatever the experience—anxiety, guilt, unhappiness, depression, or lack of motivation—a therapeutic cure exists.

In his address, Wells identified three phases our culture has experienced to arrive at a therapeutic state of mind.3 First, we have moved from emphasizing virtue to stressing value. The former focuses on normative qualities such as integrity, humility, faithfulness, and self-control. The latter focuses on what is important to me in my life. “Value” emphasizes personal preferences.4 Second, our culture has moved from identifying individuals as created in the image of God, and thus bound together in community, to identifying individuals by the self, unique from all others and each at the center of her own little world. Third, North American culture has moved from accentuating character to highlighting personality. This transition shifts the focus from internal qualities to external appearances. When specific virtues become habits in a person’s life, character results. In contrast personality is defined as “image making,” a concern with creating the right impressions.5

We have moved from a moral to a therapeutic culture, one that gives primacy to feelings and to finding relief from tension, emotional discomfort, and frustration. The problem with all of this is Christianity’s response. Rather than setting out to influence or change culture, Christianity frequently succumbs to imitating the therapeutic mindset. As Robert Wuthnow observes, spirituality now primarily concerns itself with providing therapy. No longer do we look to the church to tell us what choices to make but to confirm for us the choices we already have made.6 The church in general no longer offers guidance in making daily moral decisions about Christian conduct. Instead religion helps individuals to relieve anxieties or frustrations. We view our relationship with God as a way of enabling us to feel better about the decisions we make and about the lifestyle we choose to live.7 Wuthnow reaches the following conclusion: “Religious convictions seem to operate at the level of moods and feelings, more so than at the level of morals and behavior.”8

There is, thankfully, a biblical corrective for this trend. Specifically, the aphoristic sayings which give the book of Proverbs its name are an enduring challenge to a therapeutic mindset that is primarily concerned with making us feel good rather than equipping us to be good. Through these proverbs we enter into the world of the sage and are led on a journey where wisdom9 is both our guide and our goal. The whole process is one of character formation. Wisdom is not content to leave us as we are but insists that we allow ourselves to be transformed by the power of God.

Character, that cluster of virtues that forms into habits, is a product of one’s relationship with God and with other fellow humans. In as much as this character is the natural outgrowth of wisdom, it is important to realize that wisdom, as expressed in Proverbs, is relational. In coming into relationship with God and becoming involved in the lives of others, character takes shape. Character, being shaped by these relationships, in turn rejuvenates them, continually refreshing our love for God and for others. Wisdom engenders character that is both shaped by and shapes community.

The Prologue

It is necessary that this overarching plan of wisdom should be rooted primarily and overtly in God. The introductory poem of Proverbs 1:2–7 makes this clear:

For learning about wisdom and instruction,

for understanding words of insight,

for gaining instruction in wise dealing,

righteousness, justice, and equity;

to teach shrewdness to the simple,

knowledge and prudence to the young—

Let the wise also hear and gain in learning,

and the discerning acquire skill,

to understand a proverb and a figure,

the words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.10

Wisdom grounds moral education in a knowledge of God. The poem discloses this substructure, quoting one of the most repeated lines in the book: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”11 That the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom means that without this relationship one will never acquire true wisdom. This “beginning” is not in the horizontal sense of missing the first tire in an obstacle course and just skipping to the next. Rather it is in the vertical sense of a ladder. If the student misses the first step of the ladder then progress cannot be made to the next step.12 What the letters of the alphabet are to reading and notes to music, the fear of the Lord is to wisdom.13

In our modern spirituality, “fear” is not typically a stance toward God which is advocated regularly from the pulpits. Nevertheless, Proverbs makes clear that the fear of the Lord is the essence of wisdom. At its most basic level, fearing the Lord means that the center of life is not our world; it is located beyond.14 To fear God is to realize that there is a moral locus outside of the self—a message which ought to be sounded from the pulpits. The beginning of wisdom is to come to the realization that fulfillment and satisfaction are outside our own power. What we are looking for cannot be bought, sold, accumulated, or invested on Wall Street. Fulfillment is found somewhere else, in Someone else. It is found in pursuing wisdom that comes from God.15 When we develop the attitude of an inquirer, we are open to receiving God’s wisdom, which in turn shapes the character of our life.

This character-forming wisdom, rooted in God, is experienced in community. In studying sapiential instruction, I have discovered the ubiquitous presence of conversation and conflict. Character development flourishes only in a community where healthy confrontation exists. Without the rigors of such an environment, individual character becomes undisciplined. The sages believed strongly in the principle that “iron sharpens iron” when it came to human interaction. Growth comes through struggle, and struggle is manifested as c...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1: The Journey of Character Formation
• Chapter 2: The Process of Character Formation
• Chapter 3: The Content of Character Formation
• Chapter 4: The Proverb in Character Formation
• Chapter 5: Character Formation through Human Dialogue
• Chapter 6: Language and Character Formation
• Chapter 7: Wealth and Character Formation
• Chapter 8: Yahweh and Character Formation
• Chapter 9: Community and Character Formation
• Bibliography