A Better Grasp of a Difficult Book
- Keith Stanglin
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
Keith D. Stanglin
The Center for Christian Studies has released a new video series on the book of Ecclesiastes.
The words of the “Preacher” (Hebrew, “Qoheleth”; Greek, “Ecclesiastes”) are at times clearly wise and good, but at other times challenging and puzzling. How do his words strike you? Here’s a random sample:
“Vanity of vanities!” says Qoheleth.
“What gain has the worker from his toil?”
“Let your words be few.”
“Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.”
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”
“Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.”
And so on. It’s not the easiest book in the Bible to understand. But, it is in the Bible! The historic, Spirit-filled community of God’s people agreed that its words are inspired by the prophetic Spirit. As such, it deserves our attention and study. We would do well to search its pages for divine wisdom, to hear Qoheleth’s message for our time, and to apply that wisdom to our lives.
To help guide believers toward better understanding, my new video series, “Ecclesiastes: The Search for Significance,” includes 11 episodes that take viewers through all 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes. The series focuses on the major theological themes of the book and application of its principles. Like other Center for Christian Studies video series, this learning module is accompanied by a study guide that has discussion questions for each episode. It is designed for use in Bible classes and small group settings, teacher training, or for anyone who wants to dig deeper into this book.
Churches that subscribe to CCS’ premium video content have access to this series and the entire CCS video collection. All series and episodes are available via streaming, 24/7, for each church member.
This video series may be used in conjunction with Luke Dockery’s book, The Search for Significance: A Study of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes describes the words of the wise like nails firmly fixed (Eccl 12:11). Like nails, Ecclesiastes’ words sometimes go in hard and hurt. But the big questions he asks are worth pondering, and the answers he provides may point us toward the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
