“How can a young man keep his way pure?” the psalmist asks, in what comes to us as 119. “By guarding it according to your word,” follows the answer. The fear of the Lord, the armor of God, the love of ...

Bert O. States, professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of California at Santa Barbara, guides readers through the mythical land of “Proverbia,” where bits of received wisdom are both ...