The Wisdom Project

A Summary of Charles Strohmer's Explorations

Not many months before 9/11, in an assertion accurate at the time but lacking prescience, Henry Kissinger wrote that "Americans' interest in foreign policy is at an all-time low" (Does America Need a Foreign Policy?). The incendiary conduct of nineteen men aboard four aircraft on September 11, 2001 changed all that. Their actions awakened the American public to a keen interest in what heretofore had been, for them, the domain of enigmatic foreign ministers, pointy-headed scholars and academics, silver-tongued diplomats, and shrewd heads of state. Overnight, international relations between the US and the Muslim world became an ongoing topic of prime time media coverage and dinner table conversations across America. The interest has not flagged. Quite the opposite. The war about Iraq, in particular, has fueled growing interest, giving rise to a hot, when not bitter, foreign policy debate pitting the political left against the right.

This political polemic is often stereotypically framed as Republican versus Democrat, or neoconservative versus liberal, but however one defines it, neither side seems able to rethink US policy in ways that can lead it to negotiate the deep and ever-changing volatile waters of US relations with the Middle Eastern Muslim world. The extreme position on one side can sound like war mongering and the call for a crusade; the extreme position on the other can sound politically naive and open to unthinkable capitulation. But this kind of political dualism is not new. The martial and the anti-war traditions have coexisted with us for millennia. In The Unconquerable World, noted foreign policy analyst Jonathan Schell writes that the long history of each tradition "has seemed to express an ineradicable truth. Each has retained its power in spite of the other. Neither has been discarded in the name of the other."

These two antithetical and coexisting traditions, then, appear to be locked in a contentious, winner-take-all struggle over who should hold the reigns of foreign policy power -- not an auspicious sign if you are the United States facing perhaps its greatest foreign policy challenge. Might there be another approach -- a third way -- that could unite rather than divide Americans and many others in the world? Because the United States faces an unprecedented challenge vis a vis the peoples and countries of the Middle East, it makes sense to explore new avenues of foreign policy. Indeed, there is a growing literature on the subject by some of America's foremost foreign policy thinkers and advisors. It is into this "third way" conversation that The Wisdom Project seeks to enter.

The primary goal of The Wisdom Project will be a book written by author Charles Strohmer that delves deeply into the Bible's wisdom literature to show its relevance for international relations, with a special focus on US foreign policy in the Middle East and especially with regard to the Muslim world and Israel. Although there is much Christian literature today about wisdom as proverbs and wise sayings, there is almost nothing published on the way the wisdom tradition can illuminate international relations and foreign policy. Secondary goals of The Wisdom Project will be roundtable discussions and workshops, lectures, and hopefully possibilities to influence US foreign policy. In short, The Wisdom Project seeks to recover a "lost" biblical tradition for political life -- a paradigm, interestingly, right out of the old-world Middle East -- in order to provide a fresh, alternative voice on one of this nation's and other nations' highest priority issues.

The book will have two parts. Part One will offer an explication of the Bible's wisdom literature in its (neglected) function as a paradigm through which ancient Israel and the surrounding nations conducted international relations and foreign policy. Of the many different classes of political actors in the wisdom narrative, which included both men and women, part one focuses chiefly on two classes of leaders, known in the Hebrew language as the soperim and the hakamim. Members of both classes held high offices in government or the military, or in civil or religious life, and many were highly trained professionals in international relations and foreign policy. Within the soperim were those known in English translations as cabinet secretaries, ecclesiastical functionaries, and professional writers. Within the hakamim were high officials often referred to in translation as "the wise."

Much can be learned from these different types of leaders. In today's political discourse, they would be referred to as statesmen, foreign secretaries, ambassadors, diplomats, military advisors, political theorists, policy makers, cabinet secretaries, professional political writers, and the like. They were the ancient counterparts to cabinet secretaries like Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell, or to professional advisors such as Dennis Ross and Bernard Lewis, or to international relations theorists like Joseph Nye, Jonathan Schell, and Richard Haass. In brief, they were high political officials trained as professionals in the wisdom tradition, and they plied their skills in geopolitical contexts. They traveled to the capitals of neighboring nations, and they entertained their counterparts in Jerusalem. And they understood not only their own nation's interests and values but the interests and values of the surrounding nations. "There is little prospect of mediating any conflict," writes seasoned Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross, "if one does not understand the historical narrative of each side" (The Missing Peace).

Drawing from the characteristics, principles, and learned lessons of this narrative, Part Two explores ways in which this neglected paradigm might influence international relations today, especially in the context of US foreign policy toward Israel and Muslim Middle East. The Wisdom Project therefore addresses one of the most, if not the most, urgent national dilemmas of our time. One aim will be to analyze American and British foreign policy decisions with regard to the Middle East. Another will be to compare and contrast the wisdom way with contemporary, influential views held by people such as the professionals mentioned above and Muslim thinkers who have expressed their preferred options for US foreign policy. The important role played by public diplomacy will also be considered, as will the importance of wisdom as a means for reaching mutual ground agreements.

Within the context of US foreign policy in the Middle East, the key actors are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and those who have no faith. In short, they are both religious and secular (to employ the common understandings of those terms). Because the wisdom tradition functions in a way that covers all fronts, it offers a context for the constructive debates and mutual understanding that are indispensable for creating rapprochement and more peaceable geopolitical relations between America, Israel, and the Muslim world. It is therefore the hope of this book to offer Jews, Muslims, Christians, and secularists a fresh perspective for creating equitable ways ahead in the value-laden debates and negotiations conducted by people with diverse and even conflicting commitments.

Today there are millions of both religious and non-religious people who are disillusioned with US policies in the Middle East of both the left and the right. This is the time, then, to rethink American policies and to wisely replace those that are outdated or ill-advised. The window of opportunity that now exists for this, writes Richard Haass, is not permanent. "It will over time fade or even disappear altogether.... Opportunity coexists with necessity and urgency. It is not inevitable that things turn out right. This could easily become an era akin to the last one, defined by the cold war, or even worse, by chaos. But just as easily, this could turn out to be an era of great promise.... There is little in the way of resource limits or institutional barriers to prevent the United States from choosing such a course. Further generations will have grounds to be critical and then some if it turns out that we failed to seize the opportunity at hand" (The Opportunity).

During the early years of research for the book, Mr. Strohmer received critical help from several scholars in the field, and now as a Visiting Fellow of the Center for Public Justice he will be drawing on the Center's resources for further critical help and on biblical scholars and specialists in foreign policy for a team effort.

There is a curious passage in Jeremiah 18:18, which includes the following: "the teaching of the law from the priests will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets." According to Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, this is a reference in the Hebrew tradition to three types of instruction common to ancient Israel: the priests who taught the Law, the prophets who brought the word of the Lord, and the wise who brought counsel (The Creative Word). In our day, Christians give most attention to teaching derived from the Law and the prophets. The Wisdom Project wants to generate interest in "the counsel of the wise." We warmly invite your questions and comments.