Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs don’t easily fit our preconceptions as Christians. How do we reconcile Ecclesiastes’ seemingly hedonistic passages and its broodings on life’s futility with Christ’s call to self-denial and his revelation of God’s profound purpose for our lives? Is the Song of Songs a frank-to-the-point-of-disturbing depiction of erotic love, or is it rather a loose-fitting spiritual allegory for Christ’s relationship with the church? Must we choose between the one interpretation and the other?
Most important, what wisdom can these ancient books of the Bible offer us for living out our faith today with integrity, fervor, balance, and devotion?
Revealing the links between the Scriptures and our own times, Iain Provan shows how the wisdom books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs speak to us today with relevance and conviction.
