The Preacher Sought to Find Pleasing Words

The Preacher Sought to Find Pleasing Words
Author: Antoon Schoors
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
Total Pages: 586
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789042915459

This volume on Qoheleth's vocabulary is the continuation of that on the grammar (OLA 41), published in 1992. All lexemes occurring in Qoh are examined for the specific connotations they have in this book. Chapter I deals with Biblical Hebrew words that are frequently and idiosyncratically used in Qoh. The subject of Chapter II are words that are less frequently used, yet can be considered to have some typical connotations in Qoh. Then follows in Chapter III the study of classical BH words that are less typical of Qoh, yet demand some attention. Chapter IV offers an analysis of the words that occur only in Qoh and in the last chapter, the reader finds short notes on the remaining words, those which require no special analysis. Throughout this monograph, attention is given to Late Biblical Hebrew, Aramaisms and Graecisms, in continuity with the grammatical studies in vol. I.

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.

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.

Why Buddhism? The Evil of Religion

Why Buddhism? The Evil of Religion
Author: Joseph T. Arellano
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2004-07-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1412215064

This work supports the proposition that the eradication of religion will make us live as one, and there is only one way to remove religion and that is to remove the need for it. Armed only with reason, this work will prove that due to ignorance religion is just an invention to fill a need. This work has three segments. The first explores - from the point of view of a Christian-practicing Pagan - the process on how myth became reality. It will prove that God was invented, and re-invented perpetually, for necessity and convenience. It is that need that gave the bible its religious relevance. Understood with a naked mind, the bible is far from being just a religious document but a political one. This work explores why religion and politics cannot and will not separate. Hence, unavoidably, it dipped its hands into one painful political issue - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The second part elucidates that if the foundation is a myth it only follows that what was founded on it - Jesus - is a lie. It will give proof to the fact that the New Testament was manipulated to further vested interest. Understood with an unconditioned mind, that is, without the traditional spirituality attached to it, it will prove that Jesus is just selfishly scheming to regain his grandfather David's throne; it will also prove that Jesus is gay. The last part is my way of introducing Buddhism. It could shed light to what Western science is exiting themselves about. It answers why man will never find the Missing Link. It explains how and why advanced civilizations deteriorated to their present state. In our fight against virus causing disease we must explore all avenues to defeat it, Buddhism offers one. Buddhism is not only about science, it is also about religion; it delves into the reality of a soul. Buddhism gives us reason on why we must discriminate on account of race, or for any other reason.

The Words of the Wise Are like Goads

The Words of the Wise Are like Goads
Author: Mark J. Boda
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2013-03-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1575066920

“Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.” The word “meaningless” (hebel) appears more than 40 times in the book of Ecclesiastes and raises the question why a book that appears to deny meaning or purpose is included in the Bible. Many questions of interpretation as well as relevance surround the book of Ecclesiastes, including indeed the proper translation and understanding of the word hebel. If, after all, the book does examine the question of the meaning of life, what could be more important? The present volume explores Ecclesiastes/Qohelet on many different levels: linguistic, text-critical, theological, historical, and literary. The contributors, chosen from many of the leading and emerging experts on the book, present both the state of the field and their own assessment of the varied interpretive issues of Ecclesiastes. They include scholars, preachers, and philosophers. It should be helpful not only to scholars but also to all who want to study this book seriously. The first section of this volume deals with the history of interpretation. The second section is concerned with issues of history, form, and rhetoric. Section three is about key concepts and passages. The fourth section focuses on the language and grammar of Qohelet. The last section engages practical issues of interpretation. The volume is designed to provide exposure to a variety of readers who seek to engage Qohelet in fresh ways in the twenty-first century—from historians of interpretation to biblical exegetes to linguists to theological students.

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
Author: J. Robert Wright
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2005-04-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830814794

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon were all thought by the early church fathers to have derived from the hand of Solomon. To their minds the finest wisdom about the deeper issues of life was to be found in these books. This ACCS volume offers a rich trove of wisdom on Wisdom literature for the enrichment of the church today.

The Formation of the Hebrew Bible

The Formation of the Hebrew Bible
Author: David M. Carr
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2011-10-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019974260X

David Carr rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible into its present form.