Below is a list of resources for the study of aphorisms in biblical texts. If you know of others, I would appreciate hearing about them.
Allison, Dale C., “A plea for thoroughgoing eschatology,” Journal of Biblical Literature 113 (4), 1994, 651-668.
Allison, Dale C., Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), ch. 4.
Aune, David E., “Oral tradition and the aphorisms of Jesus,” in Henry Wansbrough (ed.), Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1991), 211-265.
Bailey, James L. & Vander Broek, Lyle D., Literary Forms in the New Testament: A Handbook (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992). See pp. 98-105.
Bauckham, Richard, “Historiographical characteristics of the Gospel of John,” New Testament Studies 53, 2007, 17-36. See pp. 31f on aphorism.
Beardslee, William A., “Uses of the proverb in the Synoptic Gospels,” Interpretation 24 (1), 1970, 61-73.
Bridges, Linda McKinnish, “Aphorisms of Jesus in John: An illustrative look at John 4:35,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 9, 2011, 207-229.
Brown, William P., “The didactic power of metaphor in the aphoristic sayings of Proverbs,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 29 (2), 2004, 133-154.
Bullinger, E. W., Figures of Speech Used in the Bible: Explained and Illustrated (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968 [1898]). See pp. 755-767.
Burrows, David J. et al, Myths and Motifs in Literature (New York: Free Press, 1973).
Carlston, Charles E., “Proverbs, maxims, and the historical Jesus,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99 (1), 1980, 87-105.
Cioran, Emil M., The Trouble with Being Born (trans. From the French by Richard Howard; Arcade Publishing, 1976 [1973]).
Clifford, Richard J., “Your attention please! Heeding the Proverbs,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 29 (2), 2004, 155-163.
Córdova, Nélida Naveros, “Q (Luke) 12:27: The lilies of the field and the kingdom of God,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 82 (1), January 2020, 48-63.
Crosbie, Thomas & Guhin, Jeffrey, “On the ambivalence of the aphorism in sociological theory,” Sociological Theory 37 (4), 2019, 381-400.
Crossan, John Dominic, “Kingdom and children: A study in the aphoristic tradition,” in Kent Harold Richards (ed.), Society of Biblical Literature 1982 Seminar Papers (Chico, CA: Scholars Press), 63-80.
Crossan, John Dominic, In Fragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983), esp. ch. 1, “Aphoristic genre,” pp. 3-36; and “Appendix 1: Corpus of aphorisms presumed in this book,” 332-341.
Crossan, John Dominic, Sayings Parallels: A Workbook for the Jesus Tradition (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986). See pp. 22-110 (biblical material only).
Crossan, John Dominic, The Aphorisms of Jesus (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983). 232.954 CRO
Dillon, Richard J., “Ravens, lilies, and the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:25-33/Luke 12:22-31),” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 53 (4), October 1991, 605-627.
Feldman, Irving, Usable Truths: Aphorisms and Observations (Chipping Norton, UK: Waywiser Press, 2019).
Ferguson, Duncan S., The Radical Teaching of Jesus (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2016). See pp. 98-102.
Fox, Michael V., “The rhetoric of disjointed proverbs,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 29 (2), 2004, 165-177.
Gerhardsson, Birger, “If we do not cut the parables out of their frames,” New Testament Studies 37, 1991, 321-335.
Goldsworthy, Graeme, “Wisdom and its literature in biblical-theological context,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 15 (3), 2011, 42-55.
Gopnik, Adam, “The art of aphorism,” The New Yorker, 11 July 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/22/the-art-of-aphorism
Gottlieb, Isaac B., “Pirque Abot and biblical wisdom,” Vetus Testamentum 40 (2), 1990, 152-164.
Grant, Ben, The Aphorism and Other Short Forms (London: Routledge, 2016). 809.982 GRA
Grothe, Mardy, Ifferisms: An Anthology of Aphorisms That Begin with the Word “If” (London: Collins, 2009).
Henderson, Ian H., Jesus, Rhetoric and Law (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996). See pp. 196-235.
Hui, Andrew, “Aphorism,” New Literary History 50, 2019, 417-421.
Hui, Andrew, A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019).
Kelber, Werner H., “The generative force of memory: Early Christian traditions as processes of remembering,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 36 (1), 2006, 15-22.
Kuntz, J. Kenneth, “Affirming less as more: Scholarly engagements with aphoristic rhetoric,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 29 (2), 2004, 205-242.
Leland, Ryken, A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014), esp. 25.
Liebenberg, Jacobus, The Language of the Kingdom and Jesus: Parable, Aphorism and Metaphor in the Sayings Material Common to the Synoptic Tradition and the Gospel of Thomas (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001), esp. pp. 431-448 on aphorism and proverb.
Margolius, Hans, “On the uses of aphorisms in ethics,” The Educational Forum 28 (1), 1963, 79-85.
May, Simon, Thinking Aloud: A Collection of Aphorisms (Alma Books, 2009).
McKenzie, Alyce M., “Biblical wisdom literature for preaching and teaching,” Leaven 8 (2), 2000, 1-5.
Morson, Gary Saul, “The rhetoric of the aphorism,” in Walter Jost & Wendy Olmsted (eds), A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism(Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), 248-265.
Moss, Candida R., “Blurred vision and ethical confusion: The rhetorical function of Matthew 6:22-23,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 73 (4), October 2011, 757-776.
Piper, Ronald A., Wisdom in the Q Tradition: The Aphoristic Teaching of Jesus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
Ryken, Leland, A Complete Handbook of Literary Form in the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014).
Ryken, Leland, A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).
Ryken, Leland, Wilhoit, James C. & Longman III, Tremper (eds), “Introduction,” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove: IVP, 1998), xiii-xxi.
Snodgrass, Klyne, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). See esp. pp. 9-13.
Speake, Jennifer, The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
Stein, Robert H., The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teaching (revised edition; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994). See pp. 17f on proverb.
Stephenson, R. H., “On the widespread use of an inappropriate and restrictive model of the literary aphorism,” The Modern Language Review 75 (1), 1980, 1-17.
Tannehill, Robert C., “Tension in Synoptic sayings and stories,” Interpretation 34 (2), 1980, 138-150.
Tannehill, Robert C., The Sword of His Mouth (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975).
Van den Berg, Jan, “Tweeting God: Notes on articulating a Twitter theology,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2019, 1-7.
Waltke, Bruce K., The Book of Proverbs. Chapters 1-15 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004). See pp. 38f.
Williams, James G., Those Who Ponder Proverbs: Aphoristic Thinking and Biblical Literature (Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1981).
Image source: Circe Institute
iDigress 
