The Wisdom of our Ancestors

On occassion, typically as a last resort, you might hear a certain criticism being launched against Biblical philosophy, if there is such a thing, or against any ancient thinking for that matter.

The criticism is basically that, being written so long ago, such ancient teachings can hardly be right.  That we're sitting on the receiving end of a long development in thought, and as a result our thoughts today are far truer than were the thoughts of our ancestors.  The idea being that we have learned from their mistakes and long since improved upon their conclusions. 

But is this the case?  Are we wiser than our ancestors given our posterior position in history?

Another argument for this kind of thinking is based on the fairly safe premise that we have technological and scientific knowledge in excess of those who came before us.  And that just as we have superior knowledge in this regard we must have superior knowledge in matters of wisdom (or morality) as well.

But can we really make that first claim?  Are we more ingenious engineers than our ancestors?

Even when it comes to matters of science and technology it is not uncommon, when determining how the pyramids or other ancient wonders were built for example, to be flummoxed by how it was done.  Some people, because they can't fathom the process themselves, jump again to the (rather irrational) conclusion that divine (or alien!) intervention must somehow be involved.  Others, however, accept the ingenuity of humankind and hear rather the call to discern in such examples.  Instead of dismissing the inventive power of our ancestors they embrace it, and try to figure out how they could accomplish such feats...

So I ask, if we can credit our ancestors with marvels of engineering, and we can strive to discern their processes there, why not in matters of wisdom (or morality)?  Should we not, when flummoxed by an ancient text, be just as keen to figure out what is going on, or what it is that is being taught?  That here too may be a marvel of human ingenuity and inventiveness?

As great as our potential may be at the receiving end of history we should not be so full of ourselves or so dismissive of our ancestor's wisdom.  Although thinking is far from over we should not treat their works as dated but as a call to discern.  As revealing treasures as valuable today as ever before.

Thanks be to Job.