HEARING THE MESSAGE OF
ECCLESIASTES:
Questioning Faith in a Baffling World
By Christopher Wright
Zondervan. 154 pages. £12.99.
ISBN 978 0 310 145 912
Ecclesiastes claims that of ‘making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body’ (Ecc. 12:12, NIV).
So, we must ask: is it wise to have another book from a publisher that has already produced six commentaries on Ecclesiastes?
From the outset I am delighted to answer yes, and I can add that this book neither wearies the flesh, nor is it a commentary. The intended audience for this introduction, to what is arguably the most puzzling of Old Testament books, is those wanting to make their first serious foray into Ecclesiastes. Preachers will also find this a good overview ahead of more thorough study of a specific passage.
This able introduction, like the focus of its attention, is not about quick answers to questions about life, the universe, and everything. Rather, we are trained as we journey with Wright and the Teacher (in Hebrew, Qoheleth – literally, the collector of sentences), to question faithfully how this baffing world makes sense.
The headings in Wright’s book include: ‘The Scandal of Injustice’, ‘Life is Inexplicable’, and ‘Death is Inescapable’. The book of Ecclesiastes is nothing if not frank about the perplexities of the life of faith. Wright is also an honest broker as he continually invites us to work with Ecclesiastes to appreciate, firstly, that this world is puzzling and, secondly, how the Teacher provides reflection after reflection on the various ways we might address our bafflement. The Teacher, like so many people, has tried different philosophies and a variety of distractions to variously embrace or ignore reality.
Ecclesiastes, and Wright’s gateway into it, enable us to think wisely so that we might reflect honestly on life. Such chewing on Biblical wisdom can prepare us for reaching out to those who do not know Christ – surely effective apologetics and evangelism require embracing, and living honestly in, this often-baffling world. All this makes this introduction to Ecclesiastes both a timely and healthy remedy to living with perplexity this side of eternity.
