Existentialism in the Bible: Taking a Quick Look at Job and Ecclesiastes
These books might seem intimidating, but they are worth diving in to.
Anyone who has dipped a big toe into the world of philosophy has had a brush with Existentialism. Existentialism is, in short, a philosophical school that explores what it means to exist. This can guide us through thinking about what the meaning of life is, the meaning of non-existence (i.e. death), etc etc. It’s kind of heady stuff, but it’s also easy to see why people are attracted to it. While the existentialist movement is generally traced back to Kierkegaard in the 19th century, it shouldn’t surprise us too much that people have been thinking about these kinds of problems for a very, very long time. In fact, many people have some of the oldest existential texts on their bookshelves and don’t even know it.
There’s a little collection of books just before the prophets that are commonly referred to as the Wisdom Books. The biggest of these is a collection of 150 poems known as the Psalms, but what we’re looking for is the one that comes just before, Job, and the one that comes just after Proverbs, which immediately follows Psalms, and is called Ecclesiastes, or “The Preacher.” Both of these books try to grapple with meaning and suffering in the ancient world, and are still…