Qoheleth (Continental Commentary | CC)
Overview
This new addition to the successful Continental Commentary Series is a significant and fresh treatment of Qoheleth (or Ecclesiastes). A famed professor presents a startlingly new translation of this often perplexing book of the Old Testament. Lohfink also argues for a rather different interpretation of the book than one finds elsewhere. Rather than reading the book's perspective as depressing, lost, or cynical, he highlights the elements of joy and balance. The volume includes introduction, new translation, commentary, parallel passages, bibliography, and indexes.
Top Highlights
“In respect to modern thought, this philosophy is surprisingly similar to existentialism” (Page 14)
“Here attention has been paid to the way this Aramaic-speaking people actually talked.” (Page 7)
“Qoheleth analyzes human existence as being in the time that is given only in the now that accompanies human living and that (for individuals) ends at death. It can be experienced as happiness. It is more than a falling into nothingness, because in its individually specific form it originates in the eternity of God, who transcends this world and yet is always at work in each event. His action is perfect. Even evil he sets aright. But humans cannot see through the activity of God, and so they find it inexplicable and amoral. We know, of course, that there is a meaning to it all, but we have no grasp of it—only God has that. We can rely only on whatever, in each moment, comes to us from the hand of God.” (Pages 14–15)
“In ten carefully selected citations the major themes of classical wisdom teaching are proposed and in each case refuted. At the end, it is all about the most basic worldview of classical wisdom: good behavior leads to fortune and long life; bad behavior to misfortune and early death.” (Page 2)
“The book of Qoheleth is the most transparent place, within the Bible, where Israel meets with Greek philosophy.” (Page 14)
With a new preface, a revised introduction, and a reworking of the entire text, this long-popular German classic now appears as a fresh breeze blowing through the musty tomes of studies on Ecclesiastes. Far from counseling the despising of earthly things, the biblical book is understood as a call to rejoice in the down-to-earth gifts of the Creator and to find delight in the everyday. The translation is lively, the bibliography is new and up-to-date, and the production of the book is inviting.
—James Limburg, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Title: Continental Commentary Series: Qoheleth
- Author: Norbert Lohfink
- Translator: Sean McEvenue
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Publication Date: 2003
- Pages: 176
