This year is KLC’s “Year of the Decalogue,” as we anticipate the publication of Craig Bartholomew’s Moses and the Victory of Yahweh. As part of this focus, KLC is running a series of lectures on topics relevant to the Decalogue.
The third lecture features South African scholar Dr Matthew O’Kelly, who is presenting “The Decalogue in Proverbs“. Scholars often see a division between the world of the Torah and that of wisdom, suggesting even that these represent competing traditions in Israel’s worldview and religious life. Matthew’s lecture argues that Israel’s Torah, including the Decalogue, underpins the worldview of the book of Proverbs, and we’ll explore in what ways it informs the vision of the sages and is itself an expression of wisdom.
Matthew O’Kelly completed his PhD through the University of Aberdeen and has joined the faculty of George Whitefield College in Cape Town as their online coordinator. His publications include “Introductory Matters: Tracing the Aims of Proverbs 1:1–7 through the Book’s First Collection” (Scottish Journal of Theology), “Forgetting the Covenant of Her God: Ethnicity, Social Memory, and the Covenant in Proverbs 2:17” (Biblical Interpretation), and “Wisdom and the fear of YHWH: Rethinking their relationship in Proverbs 1–9” (JSOT).
