Abstract
The book of Ecclesiastes has frequently been mischaracterized as a cynical or pessimistic work. Instead, this article recommends Ecclesiastes, following Eunny P. Lee, as contributing to pastoral theology through its embodied and pragmatic theology of enjoyment in which practices of joy revitalize the human spirit. However, there are some who are unable to experience satisfaction. The absence of reflection on this problem in Ecclesiastes scholarship is considered the starting point of pastoral theology, and is addressed by a turn to the frequently misunderstood passage in 7:16–18, bringing it into conversation with the topographical model of the human person developed by Freud. At the same time, the interpersonal aspects of enjoyment found in Ecclesiastes critique Freud by suggesting how the fragmented parts of self-experience can be held together in an interpersonal context.
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Notes
The word “enable” might more literally be translated “authorize” in the context of Persian society at the time in which Ecclesiastes was written. “In other words, the deity, much like a Persian sovereign, authorizes the human grantee to take up…and enjoy the ‘portion’ that is given to them as a grant” (Lee, p. 46).
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9290-6
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Browning Helsel, P. Enjoyment and Its Discontents: Ecclesiastes in Dialogue with Freud on the Stewardship of Joy. J Relig Health 49, 105–116 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-008-9224-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-008-9224-8