From its earliest known interpretations up to the present day, "Ecclesiastes" has been read in very diverse - even diametrically opposed - ways. By paying close attention to recent work on "Ecclesiastes", (including modern translations of the book), "Ambiguity in Ecclesiastes" shows the continued diversity of interpretation at various levels: individual words, verses, passages and the book as a whole. Ingram maintains that the reason for this diversity is that "Ecclesiastes" is fundamentally ambiguous by design. Ingram considers the concept of ambiguity in light of modern literary theory and applies it to the book of "Ecclesiastes", considering first the book as a whole and then demonstrating the ambiguity of a sample passage. "Ambiguity in Ecclesiastes" examines the ambiguity of key words in the biblical book and explores the implications for interpretation of such ambiguity. Ingram argues that ambiguity in "Ecclesiastes" is intended to capture, and help the reader engage with, ambiguity in life. Such an approach to "Ecclesiastes" is particularly appropriate in a postmodern age, regardless of how aware the reader is of the influence of postmodernism.

About the Author

Doug teaches Old Testament and Hebrew, using a wide variety of approaches and media, at St John's College Nottingham.

Reviews

."..Ambiguity in Ecclesiastes provides a valuable contrast to the general tendency among scholars to presuppose the existence of a single meaning for the text. Ingram's work highlights the possibility that the presuppositions that underlie this tendency need to be called into question and thus forms a valuable contribution to the study of this most puzzling of biblical books by opening avenues of reading often overlooked by scholars." Martin A. Schields, Review of Biblical Literature, 5/2008--Martin A. Schields