Qohelet and the Marks of Modernity: Reading Ecclesiastes with Matthew Arnold and Charles Taylor
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 6
Abstract
The biblical book of Ecclesiastes is often claimed as a harbinger of modernity. In this essay, I compare Ecclesiastes with two overlapping constructions of modernity, taken from Matthew Arnold and Charles Taylor, focusing especially on Taylor’s motifs of inwardness, narrativity, meaninglessness, and ordinary life. I suggest that the likeness to modernity in Ecclesiastes is a complex bundle of emphases held in tension, which remains hospitable to pre-modern understandings and commitments.
Authors and Affiliations
Jennie Grillo
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- EP ID EP25572
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7060077
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