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The Politics of Pessimism in Ecclesiastes: A Social-Science Perspective
Mark R. Sneed
ISBN
9781589836105
Volume
AIL 12
Status
Available
Price
$44.00
Publication Date
February 2012
Paperback

$44.00

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.

Mark R. Sneed is Professor of Bible at Lubbock Christian University.

Click here for a printable publication sheet that you can put in your files or give to your librarian or bookstore.

Click here for the title page, table of contents, and introduction.