Existentialism in the Bible | The Book of Ecclesiastes 

Nicely done, friend! I remember hollerin’ about how much I loved Buddhism to my Catholic Sunday School (CCD, for those on the inside!) class when I was a kid. And my CCD teacher busted out this passage and was like, “The philosophies aren’t as different as you think, just the cultural contexts of their expressions, and how those cultural contexts affect interpretation.” My mind was rightfully blown. A few weeks later she, along with our Parish priest, took our class on a field trip to a Zen center where the person who ran it was an old friend of our priest. It was a good time! :) Note: The Parish I grew up in was, for lack of a better way of putting it, “left-leaning” in a Catholic Worker, Liberation Theology kind of way. Though our priest did critique CW and LT as not focusing enough on mysticism, “centering prayer” (Christian silent meditation), etc. and so, while “understanding the ethics of Christianity well, are missing what grounds those ethics rather egregiously.”

Hello. A point of clarification.. Ecclesiastes is part of the Hebrew Bible, so it's more fully described as Judeo-Christian rather than simply Christian. You could throw another hashtag in the description for good measure. Also, I'd highly recommend reading up on the variety of interpretations of this book. It's one of the few that theologians construe in wildly divergent ways regarding intent and message. Regardless, I appreciate your content. I wish you well.

Thank you for making this video :) BTW, which translation did you use? In both King James and Gideon Bibles, it says "Vanity of vanities," but did your translation use "Emptying of emptyings?" I would like to know since I haven't read Ecclesiastes in years but I am interested in reading it again since it is my favorite book in the Bible.

Thank you PT, really enjoy your content. Appreciate what you do, cheers.

* Biggest longest hate comment below*

I love these videos and your channel. Thank you for making them.

i have to admit i truly admire your modest, humble approach that gives everyone a fair shake and the fullest benefit of the doubt like a truly sympathetic free thinker should. alot of philosophy tubers can get really preachy, arrogant, and pretentious and you can tell they are only doing this to pay off their student loans. you at least are willing to dig deep into each position and taking it too its most logical conclusion rather than thumbing your nose and saying "the facts dont support this, so its not "real" philosophy."

Also check out the Bibleproject video on Ecclesiastes cuz while the book is written by Qohet(the teacher) there is also someone responding that is "the student", "the student" writes the last line.

4 the algorithm

Pretty Nice video i really think that way to go on with life

For the algorithm

What is “hermeneutical phenomenology” and how is it useful for Biblical exegesis?

I liked Ecclesiastes more than Proverbs it is shorter and provides better wisdom

Solomon musta been depressed as fuck during writing Ecclesiastes

I love your toons so far but you missed it with the Book of Ecclesiastes which is not in the Christian part of the Bible but is in the Old Testament or Jewish part. Paul and his ilk were critical of the “eat drink and be merry” philosophy. The author tells us there is no such thing as Karma. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen go good people. - If you attain wealth and give it to your relatives they will never appreciate it as much as you do because you earned it. - It is better to go through life with a partner to be in a good mood when you are in a bad mood. -. You never know if your current happiness will continue. He talks of the fish swimming in a brook and is very happy. Then a fisherman snaps him out of the water with his net. -- Bottom line, if you are feeling well and have money this is the time to celebrate and enjoy. - As you point out - the author is no sure there is a God or a life after death. It is up to you to do the best you can. -- It is a lovely scripture for a humanist, existentialist, atheist!!!! (This is also the book that says there is a time and a season for everything.) Frankly, I think Jesus would have agreed with this doctrine more than what is currently called Christianity.