Three Philosophies Of Life
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At the point of death, a great battle is waged for the heavyweight championship of the universe: in this corner Death, and in that corner Love. But death cannot change love; love changes death. Love changes the meaning of death, but death does not change the meaning of love. When fire and water meet, one must die. “Love is strong as death” (Song 8:6) because “many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it” (Song 8:7). Death threatens love with extinction: “Love, thou shalt die.” But love replies, in triumph, in the concluding words of Donne’s great poem “Death, Be Not Proud”: “Death, thou shalt die.”
The end of the story of all Creation, all time and history, is prophesied here, as it is at the end of Revelation. Here is how God’s love story ends: with endless life and love and heavenly marriage:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea [symbolic of death] was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold I make all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life” (Rev 21:1-6).
Did you hear that? Without payment! Our only qualification is thirst. The incredible offer is repeated again in Revelation 22:17:
The Spirit and the Bride [the Church] say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.
Eternal joy, marriage to God, is “without price” because Love has already paid the price, on Calvary.
Love, you see, can do anything. Love alone can fill Ecclesiastes’ emptiness—and yours. Love alone can satisfy Job’s quest—and yours.
The scripture quotations from Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Hebrews are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible ©1946, 1952, 1971, by the division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used with permission.
The scripture quotations from Job are from the Jerusalem Bible, ©1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd., London, and Doubleday, a division of Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York. Reprinted by permission.
NOTES
Introduction
1 Note Co Protestant readers: please do not throw this book away just yet. I am not presupposing or trying to convert anyone to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. Here I mean by Purgatory any suffering that purges the soul. It begins in this life. If it is completed in the next, you can just as well call it Heaven’s bathroom, if you like. A sanctification by any other name would smell as sweet. Back to text.
Song of Songs
1 Due to an ambiguity in the original Hebrew, translations of Song 8:6 differ. In some translations, such as the Jerusalem Bible, the word Yahweh is used. Back to text.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Inexhaustibility of Wisdom Literature
Three Philosophies of Life
Three Metaphysical Moods
Three Theological Virtues
“The Divine Comedy” before Dante
Ecclesiastes: Life as Vanity
The Greatness of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes as Ethics
Ecclesiastes the Existentialist
The Modernity of Ecclesiastes
God’s Silence in Ecclesiastes
The Summary of Ecclesiastes
The Author of Ecclesiastes
Short-Range Meanings-Enough?
The Great Cover-Up
Five Ways to Hide an Elephant
The Obscene Syllogism
Five “Toils”
Five Vanities
The Need for an Answer: Three Demonic Doors
Rules for Talking Back
One More Answer to Ecclesiastes: The Divine Interruption
The Postscript
Conclusion
Job: Life as Suffering
1. The “Problem of Evil”
2. The Problem of Faith versus Experience
3. The Problem of the Meaning of Life
4. The Problem of God
Song of Songs: Life as Love
1. Love Is a Song
2. Love Is the Greatest Song
3. Love Is Dialogue
4. Love Is Synergistic
5. Love Is Alive
6. Love Is Gospel
7. Love Is Power
8. Love Is Work
9. Love Is Desire and Fulfillment
10. Suffering Goes with Love
11. Love Is Free
12. Love Is True to Reality
13. Love Is Accurate
14. Love Is Simple
15. Love Is Individual
16. Love Is All Conquering
17. Love Is a Surprise
18. Love Is Fearless
19. Love Is Exchange of Selves
20. Love Is Triumphalistic
21. Love Is Natural
22. Love Is Faithful
23. Love Is Ready
24. Love Is All Inclusive
25. Love Is “Sexist”
26. Love Is as Strong as Death
Endnotes