Suffering and Flourishing : Ecclesiastes
Book chapter
Stump, Eleonore. (2024). Suffering and Flourishing : Ecclesiastes. In Paradox and Contradiction in Theology pp. 130-153 Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003319221-10
Authors | Stump, Eleonore |
---|---|
Abstract | Central to Christian theology are certain paradoxical claims attributed to Christ, such as “whoever will lose his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:24). Such paradoxical sayings are often interpreted this way: what is lost are worldly goods and what is saved are goods of the spiritual realm, and the spiritual realm is incommensurably greater than the earthly realm. But then how are human beings to live in this world? The biblical book most focused on this question is the book of Ecclesiastes. One recurrent theme of the book is that everything human beings care about is just vanity. But Ecclesiastes also recurrently recommends joy in the small goods of everyday life. What is notable about the paradoxical character of the combined claims in Ecclesiastes is that they cannot be reconciled in the way that the paradoxical sayings of Christ are. The realm in which a person can rejoice in the small goods of his day is apparently the same realm as the one in which everything is vanity. In this chapter, I explore the way in which the paradoxical character of the themes of Ecclesiastes is resolved to give a particular view of the good for human life. |
Keywords | Humanities; Theology; Christianity |
Page range | 130-153 |
Year | 01 Jan 2024 |
Book title | Paradox and Contradiction in Theology |
Publisher | Routledge |
Place of publication | United States |
ISBN | 9781032321097 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003319221-10 |
Web address (URL) | https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=30724774 |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
28 Sep 2023 | |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 2023 |
Deposited | 25 Jun 2024 |
Additional information | Copyright © 2023. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved. |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90q6x/suffering-and-flourishing-ecclesiastes
Restricted files
Publisher's version
24
total views0
total downloads1
views this month0
downloads this month