Koheleth, the Man and His World

Koheleth, the Man and His World
Author: Robert Gordis
Publisher: Schocken
Total Pages: 438
Release: 1968
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The Biblical book of Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), which originated in the last centuries before the Christian era, is a basically heterodox if not an altogether heretical work. Above all, it is a profoundly human book. The unknown author has lost the faith of the Prophets in the victory of justice in the world and the belief that man can attain an understanding of the meaning of life. God does indeed exist, but his relation to the world and man is open to question. The gentle skeptic, sure only of his innate desire for happiness, calls upon man to accept the enjoyment that this transitory life affords. Ecclesiastes receives a thoroughgoing literary, philosophical and stylistic analysis, against the background of both Hebrew and Near Eastern Wisdom literature and in relation to Egyptian and Greek thought. The vocabulary and phraseology of the highly personal, whimsical, unconventional work leads the author to an appreciation of the character of the sophisticated anonymous writer: It is the style that is fundamental to the charm and perennial appeal of Koheleth. The scholarly reader will find, in addition, a new translation of, and a detailed commentary on, the work.

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes
Author:
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1999
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 9780802136145

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

A Time to Tear Down and a Time to Build Up

A Time to Tear Down and a Time to Build Up
Author: Michael V. Fox
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608994961

Pervaded as it is with pessimism, paradox, and a multitude of contradictions, Ecclesiastes has long been one of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand. As this study demonstrates, however, it is precisely these contradictions that make Ecclesiastes so meaningful and so powerfully relevant to life in the world. By looking carefully at the language and thought of Ecclesiastes, as well as at its uses of contradictions in probing the meaning of life, Fox confronts the problems that have confounded interpretation of this biblical book. He shows that by using contradiction to tear down holistic claims of meaning and purpose in the world and rebuilding meaning in a local, restricted sense instead, the author of Ecclesiastes shapes a bold, honest-and ultimately uplifting-vision of life. Based on solid scholarly insight yet readable by all, Fox's work provides some of the best commentary available on this challenging section of Scripture.

Koheleth

Koheleth
Author: Charles F. Whitley
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2013-02-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110865173

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

Introduction to the Old Testament, set of four books (Prophetic, Poetic, Pentateuch, Historical)

Introduction to the Old Testament, set of four books (Prophetic, Poetic, Pentateuch, Historical)
Author: C. Hassell Bullock
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Total Pages: 1322
Release: 2007-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802482864

This package contains all four books of An Introduction to the Old Testament set: An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books, An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books,and An Introduction to the Old Testament Pentateuch. In An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books, incredible events, amazing love stories, larger-than-life personalities and deep theological implications and themes are just part of the treasure that awaits readers. These books tell the story of the nation of Israel and the God who loves her, punishes her, and always brings this recalcitrant people back to Himself. In An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books, C. Hassell Bullock, a noted Old Testament scholar, delves deep into the hearts of the five poetic books, offering readers helpful details such as hermeneutical considerations for each book, theological content and themes, detailed analysis of each book, and cultural perspectives. In An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books, C. Hassell Bullock presents a clear picture of some of history's most profound spokesmen--the Old Testament prophets--and the God who shaped them. Our generational distance from the age of the prophets might seem to be a measureless chasm. Yet we dare not make the mistake of assuming that passing years have rendered irrelevant not only the Old Testament prophets, but also the God who comprehends, spans, and transcends all time. In An Introduction to the Old Testament Pentateuch, Old Testament expert Herbert Wolf provides layreaders and scholars alike with a strong undergirding of understanding and knowledge in this introduction that reveals both the seriousness and excitement of the Pentateuch.

The End of Wisdom

The End of Wisdom
Author: Martin A. Shields
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 1575061023

Through the ages, the book of Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) has elicited a wide variety of interpretations. Its status as wisdom literature is secure, but its meaning for the religion of the Hebrew Bible and its heirs has been a matter of much debate. The debate has swung from claiming orthodoxy for the book to arguing that the message intended by its author is heterodox, in its entirety. There are a number of passages in the book that present difficulties for any comprehensive approach to the work. Martin Shields here fully acknowledges the heterodox nature of Qoheleth's words but offers an orthodox reading of the book as a whole through the eyes of the author of the epilogue. After a survey of attitudes regarding wisdom in the Hebrew Bible itself, which serves as an orientation to the monograph as a whole, Shields provides a detailed study of the epilogue (Qoh 12:9-14), which he believes is the key to the reading of the remainder of the book. He then addresses various problematic texts in the book in light of this perspective, arguing that the book could originally have functioned as a warning to students against joining a wisdom movement that existed at the time of the book's composition. Qoheleth is presented as a true adherent of this movement, and the divergence of his words from the theism presented in the rest of the Hebrew Bible becomes the basis of the epilogue's critique. Finally, Shields proposes a historical context in which just this scenario may have arisen, showing that the desire of the writer of the epilogue is to correct a wayward wisdom tradition.

Cosmology and Character

Cosmology and Character
Author: Naoto Kamano
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2014-12-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110870703

In this rhetorical-critical study of Ecclesiates, the author elucidates how Qoheleth teaches in his discourse, paying particular attention to the use of the cosmological texts (1:4-11 and 3:1-8) and the first-person speeches.

Vain Rhetoric

Vain Rhetoric
Author: Gary D. Salyer
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2001-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567644545

The Book of Ecclesiastes, like many ancient and modern first-person discourses, generates ambivalent responses in its readers. The book's rhetorical strategy produces both acceptance of, and suspicion towards, the major positions argued by the author. 'Vain rhetoric' aptly describes the persuasive and dissuasive properties of the narrator's peculiar characterization. It also describes how the Book of Ecclesiates, with its abundant use of rhetorical questions, constant gapping techniques, and other strategies from the arsenal of ambiguity, is a stunning testimony to the power of the various strategies of indirection to communicate to the reader something of his or her own rhetorical liabilities and limitations, as well as those of the religious community in general.