The Politics of Pessimism in Ecclesiastes

Scholars attempt to resolve the problem of the book of Ecclesiastes' heterodox character in one of two ways: either explaining away the book's disturbing qualities or radicalizing and championing it as a precursor of modern existentialism. This volume offers an interpretation of Ecclesiastes that both acknowledges the unorthodox nature of Qoheleth's words and accounts for its acceptance among the canonical books of the Hebrew Bible. It argues that, instead of being the most secular and modern of biblical books, Ecclesiastes is perhaps one of the most religious and primitive. Bringing a Weberian approach to Ecclesiastes, it represents a paradigm of the application of a social-science methodology. - Back cover.

Year

2011

Language

English

Series

Society of Biblical Literature ancient Israel and its literature ; v. 12

Publisher

Society of Biblical Literature

Editions

1

Pages

341

ISBN

9781589836105

Data source: Wikidata