"I want my work to have significance" is an often-expressed declaration. But that desire faces a shocking challenge from possibly the wisest man who ever lived, Qohelet, through his writings in Ecclesiastes. Repeatedly, he pens the word "meaningless/absurd" to encapsulate his conclusions about work and life. We cannot simply dismiss his viewpoint as that of a madman because his words are canonized in Scripture. However, a second writer, the frame narrator, emerges at the end of Ecclesiastes to complement Qohelet without totally agreeing and with a greater urgency for our duty to God as our vocation. Both writers see the complexities and incongruities that typify our labor and life. Yet, through these challenges we can still find significance when we honor our God.
“I want my work to have significance” is an often-expressed declaration. But that desire faces a shocking challenge from possibly the wisest man who ever lived, Qohelet, through his writings in Ecclesiastes. Repeatedly, he pens the word “meaningless/absurd” to encapsulate his conclusions about work and life. We cannot simply dismiss his viewpoint as that of a madman because his words are canonized in Scripture. However, a second writer, the frame narrator, emerges at the end of Ecclesiastes to complement Qohelet without totally agreeing and with a greater urgency for our duty to God as our vocation. Both writers see the complexities and incongruities that typify our labor and life. Yet, through these challenges we can still find significance when we honor our God.
Alluring yet frustrating. Charming yet maddening. Such is our reaction to the literary wonder called Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), a "wisdom" book that has captured the fascination of readers everywhere for over two millennia with its mix of poetry and personal reflection, its probing of the human experience and its piercing assessment of human activity--especially human labor. Its "All is meaningless!" lament, which frames the document, is well known to all. But its message and the structure of the writer's argument remain disputed, even among professional scholars. Often overlooked, when not ignored, is the relationship between joy or contentment and the fear of God. And almost universally ignored in standard commentary is the role that satisfaction in our work plays in the life of the God-fearer. Against the mainstream of biblical scholarship, Wisdom and Work argues for the presence of a double theme in Ecclesiastes. It argues that, based on the writer's literary-rhetorical strategy, two diametrically opposed outlooks on life are being contrasted in Ecclesiastes, and that meaning and purpose, not "meaninglessness," are by divine design to be the norm - a norm that infuses the daily, the ordinary, and perhaps most significantly, our work.
The divide between the sacred and the secular life has dogged Christians for centuries. Even today, many Christians and church leaders still assume that the workplace is inferior to pastoring, Bible study, mission trips, and the like. This volume provides a different approach: it surveys the persistence of the sacred-secular divide in Christian history to develop a more robust theology of vocation while engaging with both the Old and New Testament. Charles offers a vision for numerous ways Christians are called to live faithfully in the so-called secular world.
Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk Devotional and Practical Meditations on the Book of Ecclesiastes George Mylne, 1859 Editor's note: This is the best devotional commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes that we have ever come across! In each verse which he comments on, George Mylne first views the verse just as Solomon intended from the perspective of mere human wisdom. That is, the book of Ecclesiastes is simply God's record of the rational conclusions of the wisest and most experienced man who ever lived. In other words, Solomon seriously thought upon all of life, the world and everything in it and concluded that all are puzzling enigmas, emptiness, vanity, meaningless, purposeless, futile, hopeless, vexatious, unsatisfying, unjust, etc., etc. Secondly, Mylne then views each verse from the Christian perspective that is, through the lens of the cross of Jesus. From this perspective, all the enigmas are solved, all the meaninglessness and futility of life is removed, and all the injustices are rectified. Only through the cross, does life become meaningful, purposeful and satisfying!
This unique book combines memoir, exegesis, and theological reflection to demonstrate the ongoing significance of the book of Ecclesiastes to the Christian life in the twenty-first century. Through exegesis of Old Testament passages and theological reflections on Ecclesiastes, the author deals with issues of abuse, trauma, and forgiveness. For thousands of years, God's grace and glory have been shining in the stories and poems of broken people: the Psalms give voice to our darkest moments of pain and anger, showing us that God welcomes our rawest emotions; Ecclesiastes and Job help us confront suffering and injustice in life; and the failures of Noah, Jacob, and David help keep us tethered to the God of the Bible. These stories and poems still speak to the brokenness of humans today, beckoning us into the arms of the God who made us and loves us even though we too are riddled with sin, hurt, and a longing to be loved. By working through the book of Ecclesiastes, we can let the Teacher's words seep into our hearts and shape our understanding of who God is and how he helps us navigate this upside-down world. This short and engaging book enables us to see how one part of the Old Testament--Ecclesiastes--can help us navigate a world in which things do not always turn out as they should.
Pastors and chaplains aren't the only ones in ministry--every Christian is called to be a minister through his or her work in the world. But in order to fully understand what this entails, we must look to the Bible and develop a fuller understanding of work as any way we interact with God's creation. Doing so may transform our view of how Sunday morning impacts our work-a-day lives--and vice versa. In Every Waking Hour, Benjamin Quinn and Walter R. Strickland develop a biblically and theologically rich view of work, vocation, and how we may glorify God through everything we do.
Ecclesiastes captures the toil and joy, fleeting success, and unanswered questions that we all experience in our work. Yet the book s picture of work is also deeply troubling. I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after the wind (Eccl. 2:11). But does Ecclesiastes really portray work as vanity, or is there a way to sift through the many vain ways of working to find a core set of meaningful ones? In contrast to human life under the sun, whatever God does endures forever (Eccl. 3:14). These eternal glimpses give us an understanding of the character of God, which helps us make sense of life. In any case, Ecclesiastes makes a vital contribution to the theology of work through its honest, unvarnished look at the reality of work. The Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is love poetry. Yet it is also a profound depiction of the meaning, value, and beauty of work. The Song sings of lovers who court, marry, and then work together in an ideal picture of life, family, and work. We will explore themes of hardship, beauty, diligence, pleasure, passion, family, and joy as they are depicted in the wide variety of work seen in the Song of Songs. Includes space for note-taking. These Bible studies are part of The Bible and Your Work Study Series. Each book contains Scripture references, thought-provoking questions, and prayers to help you explore what the Bible says about work and apply it to your life in positive, practical ways. The lessons in each chapter are designed for thirty-minute lunch breaks, although they can be used in other formats as well."
As noted in the introduction of this study, I find Ecclesiastes to be an odd duck. I mean it isn’t a book filled with pearls of wisdom, like the book of Proverbs. And it isn’t a book filled with praise, like the book of Psalms. Nor, will you find it to be like many of the books in the Old Testament, which give a history of God’s chosen the people, the Israelites. And, you won’t find any major or minor prophet here either. In fact, this book, with all of the author’s laments about the meaninglessness and vanities of life, for the most part, can be downright depressing! Yet we know that all of the books in the Bible are there for a reason. So, while some people shy away from the book of Revelation because of its somewhat frightening and symbolic text and others skim over books like Leviticus, Numbers and Lamentations because of their dry, repetitive or mournful tone, I don’t want people, who love God’s word, to do the same with this book. I want my readers to see Ecclesiastes in a new light, from a new perspective. Finding a new approach was relatively simple. I didn’t consult a bunch of theological, heady books that provided someone else’s understanding of what the author, whom I believe to be King Solomon, was trying to say or was feeling when he wrote this book. Instead I simply sat down with my Bible, started reading at the beginning of chapter one and asked the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to what He wanted me and my readers to glean from this most unusual book. The title of the book, E(eek)clesiastes- How to Find Meaning in a Meaningless Life!, came to mind almost immediately. The EEK part, because of how crazy this book it, but the second part, the finding meaning part, because to me, this is the bottom line of what Solomon, consciously or unconsciously, brings to the table in this book. While he struggles throughout the entire twelve chapters of this book with life’s meaning he, through this struggle, actually reveals to us what there is in this life that does provide meaning. However, you really have to look for it. In addition, as one of reviewers of this book points out, like all of the books of the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes, is no different in pointing the way to the New Testament and thus to Jesus Christ and life eternal. She notes that I show “the reader how the books of the Old and New Testament are related, giving us a clearer understanding of what we read. By this we begin to see how it all relates to one work, the work of God through the Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible.” We have all struggled with the meaning of life. Consider walking through this book as we try to unravel what that meaning might be – together.
"A wise old adage of faith states, 'Read the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.' The slogan is an invitation to notice the complex engagement of faith and culture. In Useless Beauty, Johnston takes up the interface of faith and culture with specificity and immediacy. His discussion permits an instructive dialogue, whereby we read Ecclesiastes differently, and we read contemporary film with fresh eyes of faith. Neither the text nor the films can be easily dismissed as 'absurd.' Both are thickened, and we are driven deeper in our self-discernment by the process. Johnston's alertness and urbaneness constitute a model for faith that is not simplistic and a model for culture that is not thin or transparent." --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary "Johnston reads Ecclesiastes with a rich, postmodern hermeneutic--not the more common simplistic, linear, moralistic, or formulaic approach that threatens to drown Bible readers in the shallows. His reading has great value for people seeking new ways to find meaning in Scripture. Personally, it helped me weave my life experience with my viewing of film and my reading of the Bible, and it left me feeling alive and energized." --Brian McLaren, pastor (crcc.org) and author (anewkindofchristian.com) "Johnston weaves the wisdom of Ecclesiastes into contemporary narrative films and vice versa, merging theology and film into a smart and insightful dialogue to enhance understanding of both." --William D. Romanowski, Calvin College; author of Eyes Wide Open "Some of the most helpful contemporary interpretation of Scripture comes from those who look at the text with eyes other than those of the biblical scholar. Johnston's interpretation of Ecclesiastes through the lens of film is an excellent example. The text comes to life in the interaction he creates with the narratives of major contemporary movies. They in turn are better understood by the careful theological interpretation Johnston gives them through the lens of Ecclesiastes. The possibilities for preaching and teaching are obvious." --Patrick O. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary "This book is a well-informed and sensitive example of how, in our uncertain and contradictory times, to engage film and Scripture without denying the integrity of either. It is highly recommended." --Rikk E. Watts, Regent College
