Fallenness, Sustainment, and Judgment: Analyzing Coherency in the Thematic Trajectory of Qohelet

This book seeks to establish a basis for coherency in Qohelet's theological appeal by analyzing a thematic trajectory underpinned by the rhetoric of Qohelet's emphasis on vanity, joy, and judgment. These emphases follow what have been labeled projectile themes, which aim at particular points of Qohelet's message, carrying the audience through Qohelet's flow of thought. These thoughts are deeply correlated and best recognized as the substance forming Qohelet's framework from which Qohelet's teaching flows. In other words, Qohelet's thoughts, revealed by his thematic emphases and endpoint, function as an evangelistic appeal to a theological worldview, whereby the minds and hearts of his audience are directed to a present and future reality in the fear-God concept. This present and future reality follows the premise that humanity enters a fallen world, God sustains humanity amid the fallenness, and God preserves the lives of those who fear him on the day of judgment. What is ultimately discovered is that coherence in the course, followed by the projectile themes of fallenness, sustainment, and judgment, forms a framework guiding a trajectory in Qohelet, aiming at an appeal to righteous living and eschatological hope.