The politics of pessimism in Ecclesiastes: a social-science perspective
Introduction -- Qohelet's heterodox character: non-social science approaches -- Explaining Qohelet's heterodox character: social science approaches -- Qohelet's socio-historical context -- Qohelet and his audience's social location -- Synchronic (literary) analysis of the book of...
| Summary: | Introduction -- Qohelet's heterodox character: non-social science approaches -- Explaining Qohelet's heterodox character: social science approaches -- Qohelet's socio-historical context -- Qohelet and his audience's social location -- Synchronic (literary) analysis of the book of Qohelet -- Qohelet, the problem of evil, and cognitive dissonance -- Qohelet's irrational response to the (over- )rationalization of traditional -- The positive power of Qohelet's pessimism -- The sociology of the book of Qohelet's canonicity -- Conclusion. 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 |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-317) and index |
| ISBN: | 1589836359 |