For For readers drawn to Ecclesiastes and to its realism about work, wisdom and death; not a technical commentary.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
4 of 5strongly recommended
For the researcher
4 of 5important
Difficulty
3 of 5demanding
A long meditation on Ecclesiastes, reading its 'vanity' as the stripping away of human pretension before the gift of God.
How it proceeds
Philosophic3 of 5
Scriptural5 of 5
Experiential4 of 5
Sociological2 of 5
Historical1 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
Ellul's meditation on Ecclesiastes, published by Seuil in 1987 with the subtitle Méditation sur l'Ecclésiaste, and translated by Joyce Main Hanks as Reason for Being: A Meditation on Ecclesiastes (Eerdmans, 1990). Ellul reads Qohelet's vanity of vanities as a dismantling of every human pretension, power, money, work and wisdom, which clears the ground for the gift of God. He reads the book as a whole, attending to its contradictions rather than smoothing them over.
Reason for Being: A Meditation on Ecclesiastes
by Jacques Ellul
For For readers drawn to Ecclesiastes and to its realism about work, wisdom and death; not a technical commentary.
Should I read this?
A long meditation on Ecclesiastes, reading its 'vanity' as the stripping away of human pretension before the gift of God.
How it proceeds
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
Ellul's meditation on Ecclesiastes, published by Seuil in 1987 with the subtitle Méditation sur l'Ecclésiaste, and translated by Joyce Main Hanks as Reason for Being: A Meditation on Ecclesiastes (Eerdmans, 1990). Ellul reads Qohelet's vanity of vanities as a dismantling of every human pretension, power, money, work and wisdom, which clears the ground for the gift of God. He reads the book as a whole, attending to its contradictions rather than smoothing them over.
Catalog ID
W.4JYH6E.Z