资源描述：
《qoheleth's world and life view - …》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、WestminsterTheologicalJournal37(1974)57-73.Copyright©1974byWestminsterTheologicalSeminary,citedwithpermission.QOHELETH'SWORLDANDLIFEVIEWASSEENINHISRECURRINGPHRASESH.CARLSHANKWITHINthescopeofOldTestamentethicalproblemsfallstheviewpointofQoheleth,orthe
2、Preacher,ofEcclesiastes.Asuperficialreadingofthebookrevealsamanwhodefinitelyhasanegativeviewpointoflifeinitsmanyfacets.Ifindeedthebookisaunity,composedbyonewiseman,thenthethemeofpessi-mismorcynicismbecomesasuggestedoption.Buttheethicalquestionsarisin
3、gfromsuchanunderstandingofthebookbecomecrucial.CanathoroughlypessimisticviewoflifehaveanyplaceinthecanonicalbooksofScripture?WhatexactlyisthegoalofQoheleth'sethics?Further,whatdoestheGodofQohelethreallyhavetodowithhislifeandstandardsofconduct?Again,d
4、oesnottherecurringthemeof"thereisnothingbetterforamanthanthatheshouldeatanddrinkandmakehissoulenjoygoodinhislabor"(cf.2:24;3:12,13,etc.)denoteasortofEpicureansentiment?A.QOHELETH'SETHICALPERSPECTIVE:CRITICALVIEWSOfcoursethemoderncriticsoftheBiblehave
5、seizeduponthepessimism-cynicismsuggestionwithavengeance.MorrisJastrowhassuggestedthatthebookteachesanethicalcynicism,where,inthefaceofnorealgoaltolife,goodhumorisstilltobemain-tained.1Apopularview,helduntilrecently,notedthephrase"Vanityofvanities"and
6、attemptedtodrawcertainparallelismsinthoughtandperspectivebetweenQoheleth'snotionof"vanity"andHeraclitus'sviewthat"allisflux".2However,mostcritical1Cf.MorrisJastrow,AGentleCynic(Philadelphia:J.B.Lippincott,1919).2Cf.CarlKnopf,"TheOptimismofEcclesiaste
7、s,"JournalofBiblicalLiterature,XLIX(1930),195-199.5758WESTMINSTERTHEOLOGICALJOURNALscholarstodayrejectthisargumentasunconvincing.Therecog-nizedmoderncriticalwriter,G.VonRad,hasrelatedthebooktoasupposedstageinIsrael'sreligiousevolutionatwhich"beliefin
8、Yahweh'sactioninhistorygrewweak"andEcclesiastes"fellbackonthecyclicalwayofthinkingcommontotheEast."3D.KidnercommentsthatVonRad'sargumentrestson"preca-riousassumptions".AlongwiththequestionablepremisethatthethinkingoftheAncientNearEastwas"cyclical",th
