ABSTRACT
The point made in W. Brown's commentary on Ecclesiastes was that this commentary is so framed that it enables a reader to incorporate Qohelet the sceptic into a positive framework of religious thought, within a Christian context. This focus makes Qohelet into a voice for an intelligentsia, someone who speaks of the 'same' selfhood as twentieth-century readers. Qohelet's autobiographical self provides a context for religio-cultural boundaries. This chapter explores this cultural reuse of Qohelet further. The aspect of form criticism which applies more especially to Ecclesiastes is the literary genre labelled by modern scholars, the wisdom tradition. The basis of a form-critical approach to Ecclesiastes is the formation of a holistic interpretation in which this book is viewed as part of a 'typical type' of wisdom teaching. From this broad picture specific strands of scholarly evaluation emerged – notably the promulgation of a wisdom tradition and schools of wisdom.
