Book contents
- Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World
- Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Suffering and Meaning in Egyptian Literature
- 3 Suffering and Meaning in Mesopotamian Literature
- 4 Suffering and Meaning in Greek Literature
- 5 Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life
- 6 Ecclesiastes, Suffering and Joy
- 7 In Context
- Bibliography
- Index of Sources
- Index of Authors and Topics
4 - Suffering and Meaning in Greek Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2022
- Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World
- Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Suffering and Meaning in Egyptian Literature
- 3 Suffering and Meaning in Mesopotamian Literature
- 4 Suffering and Meaning in Greek Literature
- 5 Ecclesiastes and the Meaning of Life
- 6 Ecclesiastes, Suffering and Joy
- 7 In Context
- Bibliography
- Index of Sources
- Index of Authors and Topics
Summary
Less systematic and lengthy than the previous two, Chapter 4 accounts for the Greek literature most often associated with Ecclesiastes. I argue that some of the corpus holds little relevance for suffering and life’s meaning (i.e. Epicureanism and Stoicisms), while other texts deal much more with these topics (i.e. Theognis). Perhaps most remarkable about even the most similar Greek evidence, however, is that it attests to the “more wisdom – more suffering” thesis only rarely, if at all.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022