Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World

Description

In this book, Arthur Keefer offers a timely assessment of Ecclesiastes and what it has to do with the meaning of life. Drawing on recent psychological research, he argues that this Hebrew Bible text associates the meaning of life with various types of suffering in life. Keefer here situates Ecclesiastes within its ancient intellectual world. Offering an analysis of contemporary texts from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, he demonstrates that concerns about meaning and suffering were widespread in the greater Mediterranean world. Ecclesiastes, however, handled the matters of suffering and meaning in an unprecedented way and to an unprecedented degree. With its rigorous commitment to precise definitions of life's meaning, Keefer's book provides a comprehensive set of definitions for "the meaning of life" as well as a conclusive point of reference for interpreters of Ecclesiastes. It also opens avenues for the interdisciplinary interpretation of texts from the ancient world.

Arthur Jan Keefer is a schoolmaster and chaplain at Eton College. He has published numerous articles and is the author of Proverbs 1-9 as an Introduction to the Book of Proverbs (2020) and The Book of Proverbs and Virtue Ethics: Integrating the Biblical and Philosophical Traditions (Cambridge 2021), and is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom Literature.