Ecclesiastes and the Riddle of Authorship

ISBN-13: 9781845530730 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 156 str.

Thomas Bolin

Opis

In Ecclesiastes, the authorial voice of Qohelet presents an identity that has challenged readers for centuries. This book offers a reception history of the different ways readers have constructed Qohelet as an author. Previous reception histories of Ecclesiastes group readings into -premodern- and -critical, - or separate Jewish from Christian readings. In deliberate contrast, this analysis arranges readings thematically according to the interpretive potential inherent in the text, a method of biblical reception history articulated by Brennan Breed. Doing so erases the artificial distinctions between so-called scholarly and confessional readings and highlights the fact that many modern academic readings of the authorship of Ecclesiastes travel in well-worn interpretive paths that long predate the rise of critical scholarship. Thus this book offers a reminder that, while critical biblical scholarship is an essential part of the interpretive task, academic readings are themselves indebted to the Bible's reception history and a part of it.

O autorze

Thomas M. Bolin is Professor of Theology & Religious Studies at St. Norbert College, USA