Ecclesiastes as a representative of Jewish theological education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2021.301Abstract
This article deals with the study of the author’s personality of the Book of Ecclesiastes as a representative of theological education. Many Western scholars of the Book of Ecclesiastes assume that its author was a Jewish teacher. Since the author calls himself Ecclesiastes (ἐκκλησία, gathering of people) or Qoheleth (qahal, gathering), it seems that he gathered people for teaching. A reference to this is in the book itself: “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge” (Eccl 12:9). Thus, he appears to have served as a teacher of young people (Eccl 11:9) and had a group of disciples to whom he gave practical advice about life. It was a time of great changes in Israel, new circumstances of life demanded new answers, and Ecclesiastes, through studying the Holy Scriptures and through personal experience and reflection, made a critical analysis of the reality around him and those teachings that were spread among the Israelites. On the basis of this analysis, he provided answers to young people, trying to form a holistic worldview and save them from temptations: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl 12:13–14). These words have not lost their relevance today. As a result, this work can be useful for analyzing the modern education system, through the prism of Jewish religious education, which is closely related to Christian education.
Keywords:
Bible, Book of Ecclesiastes, Qoheleth, education, meaning of life, wisdom, vanity, benefit, good
Downloads
References
Antonioni B., priest (1994) Prophetic books and books of the Wisdom of the Old Testament. Exegesis of the most important passages. Moscow, Kolledzh katolicheskoi teologii im. sv. Fomy Akvinskogo Publ. (In Russian)
Bartholomew C. (2009) Ecclesiastes. Ada, MI, Baker Academic Press.
Biwul J. K. T. (2017) “The use of hebel in Ecclesiastes: A political and economic reading”, in Theological Studies, vol. 73, iss. 3, pp. 1–10.
Blocher H. (1977) “The Fear of the Lord as the ‘Principle’ of Wisdom”, in Tyndale Bulletin, vol. 28, pp. 3–28.
Boyko A., priest (2016) “The meaning of the opposition of the concepts יְתרוֹן (benefit) and טוב (good) for understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes”, in Tablets, vol. 12, pp. 115–124. (In Russian)
Childs B. (1979) Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia, Fortress Press.
Christianson E. S. (1998) A Time to Tell: Narrative Strategies in Ecclesiastes. Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press.
Crenshaw J. L. (1983) “Qoheleth in Current Research”, in Hebrew Annual Review, vol. 7, pp. 41–56.
Crenshaw J. L. (1987) Ecclesiastes: A Commentary. Philadelphia, PA, Westminster Press.
Crenshaw J. L. (2013) Qoheleth: The Ironic Wink. Columbia, University of South Carolina Press.
De Jong S. (1994) “Qohelet and the Ambitious Spirit of the Ptolemaic Period”, in Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, vol. 61, pp. 85–96.
Enns P. (2011) Ecclesiastes. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans Publ.
Fast G., priest (2009) Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes. Krasnoyarsk, Eniseiskii blagovest Publ. (In Russian)
Fox M. V. (2010) A Time to Tear Down and a Time to Build up: A Rereading of Ecclesiastes. Eugene, OR, Wipf & Stock Publ.
Grabbe L. L. (2010) An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus. London, T&T Clark International Publ.
Hengel M. (1989) The “Hellenization” of Judaea in the First Century after Christ. London, SCM Press; Philadelphia, Trinity Press International.
Hilarion (Alfeyev), metropolitan. (2018) “Jesus Christ as a teacher and modern pedagogical university”, in Vestnik Russkoi khristianskoi gumanitarnoi akademii, vol. 19, iss. 1, pp. 55–62. (In Russian)
Jerome (1880) Commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, to Paul and Eustochia. Kiev, Kievskaia dukhovnaia akademiia Publ., Tipografiia I. I. Chokolova Publ. (In Russian)
Klassen A., priest (2009) “Scientific and isagogical review of the book Ecclesiastes”, in Fast G., priest. Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, pp. 305–330. Krasnoyarsk, Eniseiskii blagovest Publ. (In Russian)
Krüger Th. (2004) Qoheleth: A Commentary on the Book of Qoheleth. Minneapolis, MN, Fortress Press.
Loader J. A. (1979) Polar Structures in the Book of Qoheleth. Berlin, New York, de Gruyter Publ.
Longman T. (1998) The Book of Ecclesiastes. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans Publ.
Lyavdansky A. K., Barsky E. V. (2008) “Ecclesiastes Book”, in Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia, vol. 18, p. 224. Moscow, Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia Publ. (In Russian)
Marrou H. I. (1982) A History of Education in Antiquity. New York, Mentor Books Publ.
Rizhsky M. I. (1995) The Book of Ecclesiastes. In search of the meaning of life. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ. (In Russian)
Rudman D. (2001) Determinism in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press.
Sacchi P. (2004) The History of the Second Temple Period. Edinburgh, T&T Clark Publ.
Schultz R. L. (1997) “Unity or Diversity in Wisdom Theology? A Covenantal and Canonical Perspective”, in Tyndale Bulletin, no. 48, pp. 271–306.
Schwienhorst-Schoenberger L. (2008) “The Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet)”, in Vvedenie v Vetkhii Zavet, ed. by E. Zenger, pp. 494–505. Moscow, Bibleisko-bogoslovskii institut sv. apostola Andreia Publ. (In Russian)
Seow C. L. (1997) Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible. New York, NY, Doubleday Publ.
Sergius (Akimov), archim. (2012) “‘What is Good?’: Searching for Good in the Mesopotamian ‘Conversation of the Master with the Slave’ and the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes”, in Tablets, vol. 3, pp. 78–86. (In Russian)
Seyfrbold K. K. (1978) “ הֶבֶל hebhel; הָבַל hābhal”, in Theological dictionary of the Old Testament. In 17 vols. Vol. 3, pp. 313–320. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans.
Shmonin D. V. (2018) Technology of Good: Essays on the Theology of Education. Moscow, Poznanie Publ. (In Russian)
Sun C. (2017) “Ecclesiastes among the Megilloth: Death as the Interthematic Link”, in Bulletin for Biblical Research, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 185–206.
Whybray R. N. (1989) Ecclesiastes: New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publ.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
