wisdom literature

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The body of religious or philosophical writings that communicate wisdom by means of proverbs or parables.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with general ethical and religious topics, as distinguished from the prophetic and liturgical literature, and from the law. It is comprised chiefly in the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. The “wisdom” (Hokhmah) of these writings consists in detached sage utterances on concrete issues of life, without the effort at philosophical system that appeared in the later Hellenistic reflective writing beginning with Philo Judæus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any of the biblical books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus) that are considered to contain wisdom