Three Philosophies of Life
Overview
“I’ve been a philosopher for all my adult life and the three most profound books of philosophy that I have ever read are Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs.” With these opening lines, Peter Kreeft begins his exposition of the three philosophies of life and how each one is represented by one of these books of the Bible—life is vanity; life is suffering; life is love.
Kreeft shows how Dante’s great epic, The Divine Comedy, parallels these three books, from hell to purgatory to heaven. But it is also an epic played out in our hearts and lives, here and now. Just as there is movement in Dante’s epic, so there is movement in from Ecclesiastes to Job, from Job to Song of Songs. Love is the final answer to the quest of Ecclesiastes, the alternative to vanity, and the true meaning of life. Kreeft sees in these books the epitome of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love—“an essential summary of the spiritual history of the world.”
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- Presents an exposition of the three philosophies of life
- Addresses how each philosophy is represented by one of these books of the Bible
- Explores how Dante’s great epic, The Divine Comedy parallels Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs
- Ecclesiastes: Life as Vanity
- Job: Life as Suffering
- Song of Songs: Life as Love
Top Highlights
“Ecclesiastes’ ‘vanity’ represents Hell. Job’s suffering represents Purgatory.1 And Song of Songs’ love represents Heaven” (Page 8)
“The point is simply this: without God—no, not just without God, for the author of Ecclesiastes speaks frequently of God—without faith in God—no, not even that, for the author has faith in God, in fact, an unquestioning faith: never does he doubt God’s existence—rather, without the kind of faith in God that is larger than life and therefore worth dying for and therefore worth living for, without a faith that means trust and hope and love, without a lived love affair with God, life is vanity of vanities, the shadow of a shadow, a dream within a dream.” (Page 27)
“The difference between philosophy and religion is the difference between speaking and listening, between man’s speaking about God and God’s speaking about man with man listening. This is the difference between reason and faith. Philosophy is man’s search for God; the Bible is the story of God’s search for man. Philosophy is words flying up; the Bible is the Word sent down. Ecclesiastes is the only book in the Bible in which God is totally silent.” (Page 22)
“the difference is simply that the three friends speak about God while Job speaks to God.” (Page 90)
“Kierkegaard wrote, ‘If I could prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the word of God were proclaimed in the modern world, no one would hear it; there is too much noise. Therefore create silence.’” (Page 31)
Peter Kreeft is a philosopher, theologian, and apologist. His concise, lucid, wit-infused prose draws frequent comparisons to that of C. S. Lewis. He has written dozens of books on understanding philosophy, defending the Christian faith, and encouraging Catholics on difficult doctrine. He is currently professor of philosophy at Boston College.