Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries (Blackwell Bible Commentaries)

✍ Scribed by Eric S. Christianson

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 332
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Over the centuries, Ecclesiastes has influenced a number of diverse areas of life and thought. Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries assesses the fascinating effects of the book on the culture of the various times in religion, art, and social thought.Explores a fascinating range of Jewish and Christian readings Features engaging and unusual examples from art, music, literature and history: from Thackeray and Orwell, to Salvador Dali’s Illustrated Bible, to the inflammatory exposition of Ecclesiastes at the funeral of Queen Mary This is the third Old Testament volume published in the innovative Blackwell Bible Commentaries series The series is supported by a website at www.bbibcomm.net

✦ Table of Contents

Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries......Page 5
Contents......Page 9
Series Editors' Preface......Page 13
Preface......Page 15
The Vagaries of Interpreting Ecclesiastes......Page 19
Charting a Harsh Terrain......Page 22
Qoheleth the Philosopher......Page 23
Wrought by Melancholy......Page 25
Preacher of Joy......Page 27
True to Life......Page 28
Qoheleth and Christianity......Page 32
Qoheleth and Justice......Page 33
Introduction......Page 35
1 A History of Reception Histories......Page 37
2 Reading Strategies and Lines of Influence......Page 40
Pre-Modern Reading: –1500......Page 41
A. Renaissance and Reform......Page 58
B. Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Verse......Page 69
C. On the Way to Modernity......Page 75
A. Literature......Page 83
B. Visual Art, Music and Film......Page 93
C. Comparative Studies......Page 102
Ecclesiastes 1......Page 105
A. Alive and Well in Pre-Modernity (–1500)......Page 107
B. Embattled in Early Modernity (1500–1800)......Page 113
C. Dead in Modernity – Solomon's Ghost (1800–)......Page 114
Vanitas Vanitatum: 1:2 et passim......Page 116
A. Despising the World through Vanitas (–1500)......Page 118
B. Renaissance Vanitas: Despising Jerome and Suspecting the Sciences (1500–1800)......Page 124
C. Literary Vanitas: New Points of Reference (1800–)......Page 143
D. The Breadth of Vanitas......Page 158
The Overture Played Out: 1:3–18......Page 160
Ecclesiastes 2......Page 174
Wrestling with the Test of Pleasure: 2:1–10......Page 175
Understanding Wisdom, Folly and God's Gifts: 2:11–24......Page 179
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8......Page 182
The Totality of Times......Page 183
Ecclesiastes 3:9–6:12......Page 192
On Fate, Knowledge and Anthropology: 3:9–22......Page 193
On Oppression and the Value of Companionship: 4:1–12......Page 198
On Conducting Oneself in the House of God: 5:1–8......Page 201
On the Possibility of Profit and Relief from hebel: 5:10–6:12......Page 202
Ecclesiastes 7–8......Page 206
The Curious Values of Wisdom: 7:1–12......Page 207
The Incongruity of Experience and the Inaccessibility of Wisdom: 7:13–29......Page 210
About Wisdom, Power and Authority: 8:1–17......Page 219
Ecclesiastes 9:1–12......Page 224
The Wisdom of Death and Life......Page 225
Ecclesiastes 9:13–11:10......Page 234
Wise Conduct in the Light of Uncertainty: 9:13–11:6......Page 235
The Final Call to Joy: 11:7–10......Page 239
Ecclesiastes 12:1–7......Page 243
The Rule of Allegory......Page 245
Beyond Allegory......Page 250
Ecclesiastes 12:8–14......Page 265
The Final Word......Page 267
Understanding the Pervasive Appeal of Qoheleth......Page 274
The Exegetical 'Fidelity' of Ecclesiastes' Reception History......Page 277
How Might This Reception History Inform the Discipline?......Page 279
Bibliography......Page 282
1. Pre-1500......Page 283
2. 1500–1800......Page 285
3. Post-1800......Page 289
1. Jewish and Christian......Page 293
2. Surveys of Academic Approaches......Page 298
3. Literature......Page 299
Specialist Comparative Studies......Page 301
Ecclesiastes General Secondary Sources......Page 303
Other Secondary Sources......Page 309
Appendix – The Quotable Qoheleth: Ecclesiastes in Popular Discourse......Page 314
List of Illustrations......Page 318
Acknowledgements......Page 320
Name Index......Page 321
Subject Index......Page 330