Description
Book SynopsisThis study explores the interplay between the commendation of enjoyment and the injunction to fear God in Ecclesiastes. Previous studies have tended to examine these seemingly antithetical themes in isolation from one another. Seeing enjoyment and fear to be positively correlated, however, enables a fresh articulation of the book’s theology. Enjoyment of life lies at the heart of Qohelet’s vision of piety, which may be characterized as faithful realism, calling for an authentic engagement with both the tragic and joyous dimensions of human existence. Winner of the 2007 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise
Table of Contents1. Integrity of the Book: Broad Framework · Catchwords and Linking Devices · Genre, Rhetoric, and Subversion · Hebel and Integrity 2. The Vitality of Enjoyment: In the Hand of God (2:24-26) · The Human Portion (3:12-13, 22) · The Divine-and Human-“Answer” (5:17-19) · The Paradox of Joy (7:14) · By the Sweat of One's Brow (8:15) · To Life! (9:7-10) · Farewell to Joy (11:7-12:7) 3. The Fear of God: The Dialogics of Piety: The Inscrutable Work of God (3:14) · In the Presence of the Wholly Other (5:6) · A Morality of “Both” (7:18) · To Believe or Not to Believe (8:12b-13) · The End of the Matter (12:13b) Conclusion: Qohelet’s Theology of Enjoyment: The Normativity of Enjoyment · The Social Dimension of Enjoyment · Enjoyment and Double Agency
