When the Horizons Close: Rereading Ecclesiastes

by Elsa Tamez

On its surface the book of Ecclesiastes appears to offer a type of wisdom that bears little reference to social or historical issues. But from her own perspective in Central America, Elsa Tamez finds in this ancient book a surprisingly current message. Ecclesiastes reflects a time when utopian hopes have been crushed, when the prospects for change seem remote, and the challenge is how to live faithfully in the present while maintaining some openness to a different future. Because that describes the situation of many people today, especially in the third world, the book of Ecclesiastes bears a message of unusual relevance.

Genres: Old Testament

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Elsa Tamez is a Methodist and Liberation Theologian. She was born in Mexico in 1950. Prof. Tamez received her Doctor's Degree in Theology from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She received her Licentiate in Theology in 1979 from the Latin American Biblical Seminary, and a Licentiate in Literature and Linguistics at the National University of Costa Rica in 1986. She is a faculty member of the Latin American Biblical University in Costa Rica and a member of the team of researchers of the Ecumenical Department of Investigation (DEI) in Costa Rica. She is married with two children.

Among her most known publications in English are: The Bible of the Oppressed (1980), The Scandalous Message of James (1989), The Amnesty of Grace (1993), and When the Horizons Close: Rereading Ecclesiastes (2000). Her latest publication is Jesus and Courageous Women (2001). She has received several awards for her contributions to Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics.

Reviews

[Andrea Engle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elsa Tamez is a Mexican theologian, currently Professor of Biblical Studies and the President of the Latin American Biblical University in Costa Rica. This particular book comments on Ecclesiastes in a novel and refreshing way, bringing new perspectives to bear … the best short work on Ecclesiastes that I have read so far … it can even be compared favorably with the stellar Ancient Christian Commentators volume on “Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon,” edited by J. Robert Wright.

edited by J. Robert Wright (no photo)

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for an exegesis class that focused on the book of Ecclesiastes.
Tamez offers a thorough roadmap to reading the text from a contemporary perspective informed by the context of the original writing. Her commentary and analysis are high quality and offer the reader a more restorative perspective on the text than a dry academic accounting of the language and grammar. This commentary, while deep, is accessible to the motivated reader, and worth the effort for anyone interested in getting more out of this sometimes confounding portion of Scripture.
I recommend it, and can see why my professor claimed it might be the best text ever written on the Book of Ecclesiastes.

[Susan Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is written by a latin american feminist theologian with whom I studied in Costa Rica last year. I'll never read ecclesiastes the same---reading it with a latin american perspective is really profound.