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What is the source of Wisdom? What, in fact, is the biblical understanding of Wisdom? And how is Wisdom revealed? In God’s Twilight Zone, T. A. Perry has brought his creative impulse and critical mind to some of the most enigmatic passages of the Hebrew Bible. Instead of confining his study to the so-called “Wisdom literature” genre, Perry proceeds based on the assumption that Wisdom can be found strategically throughout the Hebrew Bible, often in poorly understood passages that seem out of place within their wider context.

Perry provides serious students with an insightful and incisive lens through which to interpret, among other biblical passages, the story of Judah and Tamar, the riddle proposed by Samson, and the words of Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) reflecting on the advancing years of life. Solomon’s genius in the tale of the two mothers, Perry demonstrates, is not in ascertaining the true mother, but in understanding the Wisdom of preserving life. Through this thoughtful study, the reader will see that God’s Wisdom is profound and sometimes viewed best in the murky light of the twilight zone at the start and end of a day.

“God’s Twilight Zone—Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible sparkles with unexpected readings of familiar texts and sustains one's interest by its stylistic brilliance. Those who are prepared to detect the influence of sages throughout the Bible, which I am not, will find Perry's argument persuasive. Whether agreeing with him or not, they will certainly profit from lively engagement with his fertile imagination steeped in rabbinic lore.”
—James L. Crenshaw, Robert L. Flowers Professor of Old Testament, Duke University

“Readers may occasionally wonder whether what Perry calls 'strong readings' are not occasionally what Harold Bloom would call 'strong misreadings,' mistaking midrash for Bible or the inventiveness of the critic for the proverbial wisdom of the text. But what a rich wonder that is, provoked over and again in familiar and surprising contexts!"
—Leslie Brisman, Karl Young Professor of English, Yale University

T.A. Perry holds a PhD from Yale and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Connecticut. He taught Jewish Studies and Linguistics at Ben Gurion, Loyola, and Hebrew University, and has done post-doctoral work in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and in Hebrew Bible at Brandeis and Hebrew University.

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