I have always wanted to see the look on Qoheleth’s face. An innovative thespian on a spiritual quest recently gave me that chance. A colleague from the theater department at my university had told me ...

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the years draw near when you will say, 'I have no delight in them'; before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and ...

On a first pass through, Ecclesiastes can seem nihilistic. When Solomon advocates that a person “should eat and drink and ...

In my first semester of college as a classics major, I translated from Latin the opening passage of the ancient book of Ecclesiastes. This wasn’t ever a book I came across in parochial school or ...

As a biblical scholar, whenever I’ve been asked in recent days what scripture has to say in our present time of crisis, I have tended to refer people to the treasure trove of the Psalms, those prayers ...

Life can be hard for anyone. That much is given. But then a question is raised from this Sunday’s first reading: Is striving too hard to achieve something in life also meaningless? Wisdom literature ...

A wizened sage named Ecclesiastes tamed my youthful cynicism. Christians like to quiz each other about their favorite book in the Bible. Finding out how people experience Scripture—especially those ...

A bunch of readers rebuked me for calling Ecclesiastes a Buddhist book. I don’t know much about Buddhism—I’m no “JewBu“—and I may have made the classic ignoramus mistake of assuming any vaguely ...