How to Read Ecclesiastes: Absurdity, Futility, and the Simple Value of Life / Jesse Peterson

The book of Ecclesiastes has puzzled readers for millennia with its unflinching observations about absurdity, meaninglessness, vanity, and futility. Biblical scholar Jesse Peterson joins Evan Rosa to discuss his book, Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value, bringing contemporary philosophy into dialogue with this ancient text and reflecting on what happens when a sage confronts the gap between expectation and reality.

"Can you view your work, your toil, not just as a means to a further end? Can you rather turn to simply enjoy the work itself?"

Together they discuss the distinction between meaning and value, why Qoheleth denies lasting significance while affirming joy, the harm of death and the death of memory, Ecclesiastes and Camus's absurdism, and the book's surprising message about enjoyment as an intrinsic good.

Episode Highlights

"I think what's at the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes is just to say, maybe not, maybe there isn't a direct line between what you do and what the result will be."

"It's not just that you'll physically die, but meaning that you've accrued in your life, if there was such a thing, that dies with you."

"In this moment of working on what I'm working on, whatever it is, I am fully alive."

"You have a little piece of the pie, and just own it. Absorb yourself into whatever that may be."

"Can you view your work, your toil, not just as a means to a further end? Can you rather turn to simply enjoy the work itself?"

About Jesse Peterson

Jesse Peterson is an Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies in the School of Theology and Honors Program at George Fox University. He previously taught at Purdue University, Fordham University, and St. John's University. He earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Durham University (UK), an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in music and Jewish studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His work on Ecclesiastes has appeared in Harvard Theological Review, Vetus Testamentum, and the Journal of Theological Studies. He is the author of Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value (Cambridge University Press).

Helpful Links and Resources

Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value, by Jesse Peterson https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/qoheleth-and-the-philosophy-of-value/877B040C17EE8B9DD60174DEC7C306F7

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202

Featured music by the Jesse Peterson Quartet https://jessepetersonquartet.bandcamp.com/album/man-of-the-earth

Show Notes

• The most philosophical book in the Bible
• Bringing Ecclesiastes into dialogue with contemporary philosophy of value
• Jaco Gericke's Hebrew Bible and Philosophy of Religion as catalyst
• Authorship: why scholars date Ecclesiastes to the 3rd century BCE
• The Solomonic persona and the epilogue problem
• Amal (toil) and yitron (gain): does life add up?
• Qoheleth as businessman: commercial language for philosophy
• Three theories of meaning: subjectivism, consequentialism, intersubjectivism
• "Maybe there isn't a direct line between what you do and what the result will be"
• Brueggemann's orientation, disorientation, new orientation
• The absurd: expectation vs. reality, linking Qoheleth to Camus
• "Meaning that you've accrued in your life, if there was such a thing, that dies with you"
• The same fate for all: wise and foolish, human and animal
• Epicurus and the harm of death
• Hebrew anthropology: dust plus life-breath, no afterlife
• The carpe diem passages: "Go eat your bread with joy"
• Joy as robust, not narcotic—enjoying toil as an end in itself
• "In this moment of working on what I'm working on, I am fully alive"
• Csikszentmihalyi's Flow and the autotelic experience
• "Just own it. Absorb yourself into whatever that may be."

#Ecclesiastes #Qoheleth #PhilosophyOfValue #MeaningInLife #BiblicalStudies #HebrewBible #WisdomLiterature #CarpeDiem #Absurdity #ForTheLifeOfTheWorld

Production Notes

• This podcast featured Jesse Peterson
• Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa
• Hosted by Evan Rosa
• Production Assistance by Noah Senthil
• A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about
• Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give