Wisdom and Work: Theological Reflections on Human Labor from Ecclesiastes

Alluring yet frustrating. Charming yet maddening. Such is our reaction to the literary wonder called Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), a "wisdom" book that has captured the fascination of readers everywhere for over two millennia with its mix of poetry and personal reflection, its probing of the human experience and its piercing assessment of human activity--especially human labor. Its "All is meaningless!" lament, which frames the document, is well known to all. But its message and the structure of...