Description
Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length study of Ecclesiastes using methods of philosophical exegesis, specifically those of the modern French philosophers Levinas and Blanchot. T. A. Perry breaks down Ecclesiastes' motto 'all is vanity' and returns 'vanity' to its original concrete meaning of 'breath', the breath of life.
Trade Review'Tony Perry has done it again. Yet another path-clearing book that opens the Bible's wisdom literature to the philosophic mind and the literary ear, as well as to the text scholar's critical gaze and the human reader's searching heart. Perry has transformed received understandings of 'hebel/vanity' in ways that make Qohelet all the more central a guide to the contemporary - as well as the ancient - heart/mind.' Peter Ochs, Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia
'[Perry's] examination of Qohelet's enigmatic words in the company of an impressive gallery of thinkers from ancient to modern times is something of a tour de force in bending Ecclesiastes to the task of getting on with life. As a saying of [Perry's] own coinage states: 'OK, all is vanity/breath; now what's for supper?'. John Jarick, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Table of ContentsIntroduction: the path of moral philosophy and beyond; Part I. Human Hebel ('Vanity'): Sins of Collection: 1. 'I Qohelet was king' (1:12): the collector theme (1:12-2:26); 2. Fool's toil (1:2-3); 3. Excess and its passions (1:8-11); 4. A practical guide for living wisely; Part II. Universal Hebel ('Wind'): Transience, Time, and Indifference: 5. Cosmic patterns of return and renewal; 6. The catalogue of human times (3:1-8); Part III. The Hebel of 'Dis-aster': Totalities, Transcendence, and Crossover Concepts: 7. Totalities and the outside (dehors); 8. Living 'under the sun' and with transience; 9. Breath of breaths: Qohelet's motto and theme and refrain: a Levinassian exegesis; Part IV. The Hebel of Words: 10. Nothing remains (1:3)? Nothing new (1:9; 12:8-12); Part V. Theological Conclusions: 11. Qohelet's very final words: a judging God, or judging God (12:13-14); 12. Qohelet's very first words: testifying against God and his 'evil' (1:13); 13. The 'all' of humans: fear God but also keep the Commandments (12:13); Conclusions: singing in truth; Appendix: further notes and topics on breath research.
