Redeeming Ecclesiastes

While I was grousing about the chains grad school put on my reading life in the last post, I should have mentioned that every once in a while, a book would come along in my required reading that would truly influence my thinking.  This actually happened fairly often, and I have to admit that while there was probably some chaff, the crew at HUGSR really exposed me to some pretty  provoking material.  

One of these books was a neat little tome on the book of Ecclesiastes that I was assigned this last semester.  For a long time I think all I'd ever gotten out of Ecclesiastes was a pretty pessimistic take on life, something like "Life is short, and while I tried to make it worthwhile, it's all meaningless anyways, so obey God."

Now there may be some truth to that, but this sweet little book by James Limburg really provoked me to a different understanding of the book.

Basically, my new lens for Ecclesiastes is:  "Life is short, and sometimes doesn't make sense.  But, it's all a gift from God, and God expects you to receive the joy within it and live it as well as you can.  So understand your own mortality, and make the most of your life while you can."

Now that may have some elements in common with the other lens, but its enough of a different spin to really make for a different experience with the book altogether.  It's really interesting how the book has been left to die by the modern church.  I think that may be because it , in this reading reuses to give up on the present for a pie in the sky view of the future.  I think this book challenges us not to just become more "spiritual", but to truly embrace physical, bodily life.  

So, I feel like Ecclesiastes used to be a dead book to me, but now it's one of my favorites.  The book's been redeemed for me, brought back into the canon.  It's amazing the difference a new interpretive lens can make for a book.  I wonder what else in the canon I need to start looking at with a set of interpretive lenses.  What am I missing...what other lost books need to be redeemed?