Religion

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Course Learning Outcomes for Unit

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Express in writing what makes you a unique individual and what in your life has been character forming.

2. Evaluate the emphasis American culture puts on the pursuit of happiness. 3. Conceive of meaning as being the deepest desire of our souls. 4. Understand that all human beings are religious beings. 5. Contextualize the place of Ecclesiastes in Biblical literature. 6. Assess the fear of Death and God in the book of Ecclesiastes. 7. Evaluate the value of friendship, a good meal, good, drink, and work.

Reading Assignment

The Bible Ecclesiastes

When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough: The Search for a Life That Matters

Chapter 1: Was There Something I Was Supposed to Do with My Life?

Chapter 2: The Most Dangerous Book in the Bible

Lives that Matter: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be

Composing a Life Story, p. 459-467

Unit Lesson

It could be argued that this course is a quest to fulfill Socrates quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In this course, you are going to be asked to examine your life to insure that it is worth living. Your first task in unit one is to write your life story in 500 words or less. This is no small task in itself. The first reading, “Composing a Life Story” should help you think about how to approach this task.

The first chapter of Kushner’s book asks the question, “What do you want out of life?” Kushner makes the case that the most common response to this question is something like, “All I want is to be happy.” This “being happy” idea is even built into our declaration of independence which guarantees us the right to “the pursuit of…happiness.” The problem is that happiness is not something that can be pursued. Happiness is always a by-product of some more meaningful activity. Kushner argues in the end that what we really want in life is meaning—we all want to know that our lives count—that we matter—that the world is better off with us in it. Kushner ends making the argument that this need for meaning is a religious need. Thus, because we all have this need, we are all religious.

In Chapter 2, Kushner turns to the Bible for help in seeking meaning in life. There is a strange, little, book in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes, in which a man recounts his search for meaning. Kushner writes a nice introduction to Ecclesiastes and makes the case that it is one of the most dangerous books in the Bible.

UNIT STUDY GUIDE

Beginning the Search for Identity and Meaning

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title

You are then asked to read Ecclesiastes and examine the many ways the author of that book attempted to find meaning in life. He concludes that life is basically vanity—a vain search for meaning. In the end, everyone dies and is forgotten. Thus all is vanity. In your Bibles you will hear the word vanity or emptiness or futility (depending on translation) used over and over again. The actual word in Hebrew is hebel, which literally means vapor. Think about that for a moment: What does it mean to conclude that life is vapor?

The author of Ecclesiastes is driven by the conclusion that life is vaporous to create some sort of meaning in his life. He pursues meaning through pleasure, work, the accumulation of wealth and treasures, the acquisition of learning and wisdom, and even through religion. He concludes that each of these is vanity or vapor as well.

The author of Ecclesiastes is not all doom-and-gloom though. The author is convinced that there are some good things in life: eating, drinking, finding enjoyment in one’s work, and having a good friend. You are asked to consider what this means for your life.