THE 'FEAR OF GOD' AND THE SEARCH OF MEANINGFUL LIFE IN THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES*
David Thangsan
Pastor, Sungan International English Ministry
No. 201 Phungsan-dong, Hanam City, Gyeonggi-do
SOUTH KOREA
(Abstract)
This article is a former paper of mine, presented in class for the course of Ecclesiastes at the Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology, Seoul, Korea, in May 2006. This article mainly debates to advocate the 'fear of God', the theme of ancient Jewish wisdom literature, as the overarching theme of the book of Ecclesiastes. The advantage of this reading is twofold. It values the book of Ecclesiastes as an ancient Jewish wisdom literature and also confirms the literary unity of the book as a single whole. In fact, though the traditional perssimistic understanding of the book (cf., 'vanity' concept) or contemporary optimistic reading of the book (cf., 'enjoy' concept) still need proper attention, this article concludes that the didactic nature of the book should be given a more prominent place in one's exegesis on the book of Ecclesiastes, known as Qoheleth.
(For full article, please, contact Rev. Mung)
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