Book Review: Reason for Being

Was introduced to the title of this book earlier this year at a Christian conference where the conference speaker took us on a whirlwind study of Ecclesiastes...was only a matter of time before i too got my copy of this book, written by French sociologist and professor Jacques Ellul.

To say that Ellul's ideas were original (as usual) is to do the French sociologist and professor a great disservice. With the power of an imagination and polemical rhetoric that reads in contrast to the many bland academic reports, Ellul masterfully ploughs through the various themes of God, Wisdom, vanity interspersed throughout the profound work of Ecclesiastes, that stretches and challenges our understanding of Christianity to the very limits of human logic.

Ellul demonstrates and reveals to us the many paradoxes contained within this book- and provides a fresh understanding of themes closely related and common to all human existence. The numbing tension between hope and despair is put forth brilliantly in this book, as Ellul brutally dissects our vain hopes (of progress, anthropocentric self-autonomy) but at the same time, points the way to true healing and the experience of a meaningful life.

There are tons of stand-out quotes in this book; Joyce Hanks has done a truly first-rate job in articulating the profound nuances contained in this extraordinary work, of which the following two are particularly of significance - at least to me:

"In order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first lose hope in everything that deceives"
(This is Qohelet's whole message)

"Everything begins with the fear of God. All the rest flows from it: vanity and fleeting pleasure, as well as the recognition of the God who gives and the discernment of foolish human behavior. God has led us by the hand to the last door, which is the first door to life"