Ecclesiastes
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Ecclesiastes

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Published: Oct 2024
£20.00 – £50.00
For readers of Ecclesiastes, the first impressions of the book can be perplexing, paradoxical, elusive and pessimistic. First-time readers may be discouraged to engage in understanding this difficult and strange book. Yet, against our collective lived experience under the sun, there are others who find this book ‘on the meaning of life’ exceptionally intriguing and inviting. The ‘search’ for a fitting reading strategy to unpack the complexity of the book; and a logical structure amidst the fragmented, thinking-out-loud mode of expressions presents a great challenge to all commentators. To address these challenges, this commentary distinguishes itself on three grounds. First, Barbara Leung Lai intentionally hammers out a five-fold interconnected perspectival reading strategy toward interpretation: as a ‘Grand Narrative’ of all humanity; as a multi-voiced book; as a dialectic composition; as an enriched whole through reading ‘cross the grains’; and as a ‘memoir’. This approach to reading Ecclesiastes opens an expanded window of perception toward interpretation.  Second, she foregrounds the five identifiable voices embedded in this polyphony: i.e. the voice of the narrator, the ‘I’-voice of the Preacher/Qohelet, Qohelet’s ‘inner voice’, the collective voice of wisdom, and the voice of the epilogist. The result of this innovative task provides for us a comprehensive, sensible, and cohesive analytical outline demonstrating the trajectory of the flow of thought within the twelve chapters.  Third, in keeping with the objective of the Readings series (for first-time commentary readers of Ecclesiastes), Leung Lai invites all readers to read and practise hearing this polyphonic text self-engagingly. Be encouraged and empowered to develop our own readerly interpretive voice. In terms of the originality of its five-fold approach to reading and its structural outline based on multi-voice analysis, this commentary is a groundbreaking endeavour—a fresh and invigorating read for all readers.

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Add to Wishlist
Add to wishlist

Ecclesiastes

By
£20.00 – £50.00
For readers of Ecclesiastes, the first impressions of the book can be perplexing, paradoxical, elusive and pessimistic. First-time readers may be discouraged to engage in understanding this difficult and strange book. Yet, against our collective lived experience under the sun, there are others who find this book ‘on the meaning of life’ exceptionally intriguing and inviting. The ‘search’ for a fitting reading strategy to unpack the complexity of the book; and a logical structure amidst the fragmented, thinking-out-loud mode of expressions presents a great challenge to all commentators. To address these challenges, this commentary distinguishes itself on three grounds. First, Barbara Leung Lai intentionally hammers out a five-fold interconnected perspectival reading strategy toward interpretation: as a ‘Grand Narrative’ of all humanity; as a multi-voiced book; as a dialectic composition; as an enriched whole through reading ‘cross the grains’; and as a ‘memoir’. This approach to reading Ecclesiastes opens an expanded window of perception toward interpretation.  Second, she foregrounds the five identifiable voices embedded in this polyphony: i.e. the voice of the narrator, the ‘I’-voice of the Preacher/Qohelet, Qohelet’s ‘inner voice’, the collective voice of wisdom, and the voice of the epilogist. The result of this innovative task provides for us a comprehensive, sensible, and cohesive analytical outline demonstrating the trajectory of the flow of thought within the twelve chapters.  Third, in keeping with the objective of the Readings series (for first-time commentary readers of Ecclesiastes), Leung Lai invites all readers to read and practise hearing this polyphonic text self-engagingly. Be encouraged and empowered to develop our own readerly interpretive voice. In terms of the originality of its five-fold approach to reading and its structural outline based on multi-voice analysis, this commentary is a groundbreaking endeavour—a fresh and invigorating read for all readers.

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Qoheleth, Second Edition

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Published: May 2007
£15.00 – £35.00
Qoheleth's driving question, according to Ogden, is posed in the opening lines of his book. It is the question, What lasting advantage (yithron) results from the multitude of activities in which humans find themselves engaged? In a word, the answer is, None; but the supplementary question remains, How shall we then live? Qoheleth is no pessimist. Even though he believes that nothing survives from the activities of life, he encourages his readers to live life to the full, to 'eat, drink and enjoy what God provides'. Wisdom is one of those enjoyable benefits of life, but even it has its limitations: it can never produce an understanding of the totality. What of the classic term hebel (traditionally translated 'vanity') in Qoheleth's thought? It is much better understood, argues Ogden, as 'enigma' or 'mystery', and the mystery it points to is the mystery of the yithron: how is joy the proper goal of human life when we know it must inevitably come to an end without leaving any surplus?
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Add to Wishlist
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Qoheleth, Second Edition

By
£15.00 – £35.00
Qoheleth's driving question, according to Ogden, is posed in the opening lines of his book. It is the question, What lasting advantage (yithron) results from the multitude of activities in which humans find themselves engaged? In a word, the answer is, None; but the supplementary question remains, How shall we then live? Qoheleth is no pessimist. Even though he believes that nothing survives from the activities of life, he encourages his readers to live life to the full, to 'eat, drink and enjoy what God provides'. Wisdom is one of those enjoyable benefits of life, but even it has its limitations: it can never produce an understanding of the totality. What of the classic term hebel (traditionally translated 'vanity') in Qoheleth's thought? It is much better understood, argues Ogden, as 'enigma' or 'mystery', and the mystery it points to is the mystery of the yithron: how is joy the proper goal of human life when we know it must inevitably come to an end without leaving any surplus?
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