Wisdom Tradition Introduction
This introduction to the wisdom tradition and its literature became possible after many years of research, but the term “introduction” may seem a bit misleading because this is a long, thoughtful piece. Its length was necessary, however, and the reasons for that should become clear in the opening paragraphs. In brief, I’m simply trying to provide a fresh look at a tradition whose way of reasoning about life and decision-making has been lost to us today and desperately needs to be recovered and practiced by us in our contemporary situations. This is particularly crucial in a world like ours, in which societies are becoming increasingly comprised of diversity, with more people of different faiths and different cultures (trying to find ways of) living together. This makes the issue of mutual cooperation in pluralist situations a bigger challenge than it has ever been. Yet this is an arena in which wisdom can help us to flourish. Although it may challenge our traditional assumptions about what is possible, a wisdom-based way of reasoning can provide us with reasonable and responsible outcomes.
This “summary review” also pulls duty as essential background for the article Seeing International Relations and Foreign Policy through Different Eyes, which was written to offer political and religious leaders, their advisors, and other specialists, such as at think tanks, some initial ideas to mull over about wisdom-based foreign policy decision making for U.S. – Middle East relations. (Complete information for sources quoted below can be found in the bibliography.)
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An Alternative Way of Reasoning
The Historic Wisdom Tradition and Its Literature
A Summary Review in Two Parts
by Charles Strohmer
Introductory note
When our thoughts turn to wisdom, many of us have been taught to think: proverbs. As important as proverbs are to the literature, wisdom involves us in much, much more than being able to recite pithy adages and clever maxims. This summary review of the historic wisdom tradition and its literature seeks to move us beyond that minimalist view to suggest that wisdom is its own way of reasoning about life, all of life. It has been amazing to become conscious of this during the decades in which I have been teaching and writing about wisdom-based approaches to life and work in this world. It has also been challenging, for it has meant struggling with the implications of embodying wisdom’s way of reasoning, and that has meant abandoning as unpromising some ideological and theological ways of thinking about life and work I had picked up since childhood.
What never ceases to fascinate me is the way in which the agency of wisdom is deeply committed to and specially suited for human mutuality, which is to say that in this world wisdom has a vital interest not only in the shared human concerns of people, and peoples, who are different but in helping us work together for more cooperative arrangements leading to human flourishing. And what never ceases to motivate me is that, within this perennial human dilemma, wisdom is not naive about basic religious differences in its way of reasoning; it has a special knack for it that is especially important for our time.the agency of wisdom is deeply committed to and specially suited for human mutuality
These basic ideas of the historic wisdom tradition have been central to my current work in international relations and to past work in other fields. A wisdom-based way of reasoning may be prophetic for a time such as ours, a much needed alternative to the shrill sectarian and militant voices of political, social, and religious ideologues who seem to be increasingly framing the arguments of public discussion and influencing institutional decision-making.
Understanding the intercultural and international dimension of the wisdom tradition gives us clues about the way wisdom reasons about life in pluralist situations. Although this way of reasoning is often missing from, or minimalized in, our individual and public worldviews today, the sages lived, breathed, and taught it. Given the famine of wisdom today, I believe its recovery may even be prophetic for a time such as ours. Learning wisdom together (with others) is essential for advancing wisdom-based approaches to issues and initiatives where human diversity is normative, cooperation essential, and human flourishing desired.
Apologies for omitting from this review areas that may be of interest to some readers, but in order to stick to the goal – to shed light on why wisdom reasons as it does, to show a more maximalist view of wisdom – I have had to make some tough editorial decisions. But I have included a bibliography, where you will find many great titles covering a variety of aspects of the wisdom tradition. And also exclusive to this site, I have included some of my work on the wisdom words in their original languages and explorations I have made into the narratives of prominent wisdom actors of the historic tradition.
I want to dedicate this summary review to three groups of people. One includes the many diverse academics, activists, and other specialists who have in recent years carved out time from their busy schedules to offer critical readings of various aspects of my work on wisdom-based international relations. Another group includes those who have seen the potential of this alternative approach but have asked if I could back up a bit and discuss some basics. Last but certainly not least are the tremendously generous people whose gifts support my work on The Wisdom Project, which emphasizes building more cooperative U.S. – Mideast relations.
To all of you, who have given so generously of your time, you know that in my current work, there is much about the wisdom tradition that has been left unsaid. I hope this summary review helps all of you see the basic assumptions more clearly. Here, then, I have stepped back from my current work to write about keys areas of my past research into the wisdom tradition.
To put it more personally, this review is really about a decades-long and slowly increasing relationship with God’s favorite woman. I hope she inspires you in your travels. Your thoughts are welcome here. It’s likely that this summary review will leave you with more questions than answers. As Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “An answer without a question is devoid of life.”
