This series offers a full interpretation of the biblical text, combining historical scholarship and theological purpose.

It brings an understanding of what the text says into dialogue with the critical questions and problems of contemporary life and faith.

Deemed by some the strangest book in the canon, Ecclesiastes is an unusual blend of autobiographical references, theological reflections, philosophical musings, and proverbial instructions, all probing the seeming pointlessnes of human striving. Ecclesiastes explores such themes as the frailty of human existence and the omnipresence of death, the bond of fellowship and the bankruptcy of heroism, the importance of joy and the inscrutable will of God. 'All is vanity (futility),' the sage concludes at the end of his quest for wisdom.

Explaining the text as it engages our own cluture's era of questioning and search for self-fulfillment, William P. Brown's commentary succeeds in discerning redemptive truth amid the ambiguity and despair of Ecclesiastes' anguished discourse.