Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/8/2015,SPi
OXFORD THEOLOGY AND RELIGION
MONOGRAPHS
EditorialCommittee
J. BARTON M. N. A. BOCKMUEHL
M. J. EDWARDS P. S. FIDDES
G. D. FLOOD S. R. I. FOOT
D. N. J. MACCULLOCH G. WARD
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
OXFORD THEOLOGY AND RELIGION
MONOGRAPHS
Schelling’sTheoryofSymbolicLanguage
FormingtheSystemofIdentity
DanielWhistler(2013)
PatmosintheReceptionHistoryoftheApocalypse
IanBoxall(2013)
TheTheologicalVisionofReinholdNiebuhr’stheIrony
ofAmericanHistory
“IntheBattleandAboveIt”
ScottR.Erwin(2013)
Heidegger’sEschatology
TheologicalHorizonsinMartinHeidegger’sEarlyWork
JudithWolfe(2013)
EthicsandBiblicalNarrative
ALiteraryandDiscourse-AnalyticalApproachtotheStoryofJosiah
S.MinChun(2014)
HinduTheologyinEarlyModernSouthAsia:
TheRiseofDevotionalismandthePoliticsofGenealogy
KiyokazuOkita(2014)
RicoeuronMoralReligion
AHermeneuticsofEthicalLife
JamesCarter(2014)
CanonLawandEpiscopalAuthority
TheCanonsofAntiochandSerdica
ChristopherStephens(2015)
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/8/2015,SPi
Time in the Book
of Ecclesiastes
METTE BUNDVAD
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
3
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
For my grandmothers
Marie and Alice
with love
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
Acknowledgements
Writing this book has been an adventure, but it has also been the
singlemostchallengingtaskIhaveevercompleted.Icouldnothave
doneitwithouthelp.
I have been lucky enough to benefit from a supportive academic
network of people much more knowledgeable than I who have
kindly shared their time and wisdom. Of these I would like to
thank especially my supervisor, Prof. John Barton, for ongoing
inspiration and encouragement. I would also like to thank my two
thesis examiners, Dr Katharine Dell and Dr John Jarick, as well as
Prof. Paul Joyce, Prof. Hermann Spieckermann, Dr Søren Holst,
Dr Nathan MacDonald, Prof. Carol Newsom, and Dr Frances
Reynolds for their support and help. From Aarhus University
I must thank especially Prof. Kirsten Nielsen and Dr Else Holt,
not least for introducing me to the field of Old Testament study
whichIhadvowedasanewlymatriculatedstudenttoavoidentirely.
I have had the good fortune to be a member of the Northern
European conference network OTSEM from the beginning of my
D.Phil. work. I owe many thanks to my colleagues in this network,
graduate students as well as senior scholars, who took the time to
engage critically and enthusiastically with my project as it was still
developing. I was equally fortunate to belong to the Sofja-Kovalev-
skaja research group at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen while
I was turning the thesis into a book, and I would like to thank my
colleaguesinthisresearchgroupfordetailedandhelpfuldiscussions.
I want to thank Jonathan Downing for many inspiring discussions
aboutQohelet,reception,andapocalypticism,andKenBrownforhis
careful proofreading of this book. Many thanks, also, to Benjamin
Cartlidgeforinvaluablehelpwithquestionsrelatedtolinguistics.All
remainingmistakesare,ofcourse,myown.
For their financial support, without which I could not have com-
pleted this book, I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities
ResearchCouncil, the TheologyFaculty at the Universityof Oxford,
Trinity College, Oxford, the Susan Kidd Foundation, and All Souls
College,Oxford.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
viii Acknowledgements
OnareallygooddayQoheletmighthaveagreedwithmethatthe
people whom we love are what truly sustain us in work and life.
I want to thank my family for their support: Jane Rubien, Jens
Bundvad, Lars Bundvad, Jacqui Bradford, Knud Riisgaard, and
Karen Winther Sørensen. I would also like to thank my friends,
without whom I would not have made it through either the D.Phil.
or the book-writing. It is impossible to remember everybody who
ought to be remembered, but that does not mean one shouldn’t try.
Thank you Jonathan Downing, Ben Cartlidge, Emily Rutherford,
Elizabeth Russell, Sarah de Haas, Ben Bertoldi, Elisabeth Engell
Jessen, Harry Smith, Alison O’Connor, Ingvill Moe Elgsaas, Pinar
Saglav,DevaniSingh,AliceWilby,AshleyWalters,KasiaBera,Karolina
Wartolowska, Amanda Parsons, Olga Shvarova, Corwin Wright,
Sinead Keegan, Julia Schöttl, Rowena Abdul Razak, Solveig Grebe,
AndaMatson,SonjaAmmann,SarahAuken,LivMarieDuus,Gustav
Berner, and Maria Falk Mikkelsen. You are wonderful people and
Ihavelearnedagreatdealfromyouall.
Additional thanks to the library staff at the Bodleian libraries, the
BritishLibrary,andthetheologylibraryatGeorg-August-Universität
Göttingen, Trinity College’s academic office, the staff in Combibos
Coffee, and the Trinity, Academicals, and Göttinger Ruderfreunde
boatclubs.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,1/8/2015,SPi
Contents
Introduction 1
1. StructureandComposition:CantheBookof
QoheletBeRead? 5
1.1. TheQuestionofDate 5
1.2. ContradictionandBrokenStructure 9
1.3. ElementsofCohesionandDisparityinthe
BookofQohelet 20
2. TowardsaBiblicalConceptionofTime 25
2.1. AQualitativelyDifferentConceptofTime:
TheLexicalApproach 26
2.2. Process-Thinking 31
2.3. TheWhorfianHypothesis 38
3. WorldTimeandHumanTimeintheFramingPoems 45
3.1. TheIntroductoryPoem(1:4–11) 46
3.2. TheFinalPoem(12:1–7) 61
3.3. ConcludingRemarksontheFramingPoemsand
TheirPresentationofTime 72
3.4. Excursus:LikeaShadowundertheSun 74
4. ThePresentintheBookofQohelet 83
4.1. KeyComponentsofQohelet’sConception
ofthePresent 84
4.2. ThinkingaboutthePresentinthePresent(3:1–15) 90
4.3. PresentLifeinHumanSociety 109
4.4. ConcludingRemarksonQohelet’sExploration
ofthePresent 113
5. ConnectingPresenttoPastandFuture 115
5.1. LookingforLostHorizons:Qohelet’sApproach
tothePastandtheFuture 117
5.2. TheBestIsNotEnough(6:1–6) 123
5.3. TheEvilofHumanityLiesHeavilyUpon
Them(8:1–9) 137
5.4. ThereIsHopefortheLivingWhoKnowThat
TheyMustDie(9:1–12) 144
5.5. ConcludingRemarksonQohelet’sDiscussion
ofthePastandtheFuture 154
