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
AuthorsStump, 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.

KeywordsHumanities; Theology; Christianity
Page range130-153
Year01 Jan 2024
Book titleParadox and Contradiction in Theology
PublisherRoutledge
Place of publicationUnited States
ISBN9781032321097
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 accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
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All rights reserved
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Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print28 Sep 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted2023
Deposited25 Jun 2024
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Copyright © 2023. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

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