https://www.logos.com/product/65180/skylight-paths-illuminations-series
Ok, so I never have heard of it. It was so popular, it zipped right thru prepub. Just hours from now, I would have had to not pay $150 more.
I really don't understand the Logos publishing system. Or maybe the Logos customer base.
This set was first offered almost 1 year ago April 2016, it did seems to get under contract fairly quickly but not too surprising as many of the sets volumes were already offered by FL and they are popular rather than more scholarly works. I am not trying to say they are not useful just that most volumes have an introductory feel to them. Lets look at one already out:
Epilogue
12:9
The Assembler was a sage;
he not only investigated truth,
he taught it to the people as well.
He listened closely
and examined the world’s wisdom
and compiled many proverbs.1
12:10
The Assembler sought out truth
and expounded it plainly.
12:11
The words of the wise prod;2
and the anthologies of the sages
are well-hammered nails3
and all come from one Shepherd.4
12:12
Beyond these, my friends, beware,
for there is no end to the compiling of books,5
and endless examination exhausts the flesh.6
12:13
After all has been heard,
the end of the matter is this:
Regarding reality—wonder!
Regarding right living—diligence!
This is true for everyone,7
12:14
for reality responds to every deed,
hidden and known, good or bad,
and yields its judgment.8
1 The reference here is to the biblical Book of Proverbs, which, like Ecclesiastes, is traditionally though erroneously ascribed to King Solomon.
2 The wisdom of Koheleth is valuable only if you to live by them, only if you liberate yourself from folly and shape your life by what is good: eating simply, drinking moderately, working constructively, and loving deeply.
• “By one’s self the evil is done; by one’s self one suffers. By one’s self evil is left undone; by one’s self one is purified.” (Dhammapada 12:9)
3 Just as nails well placed hold things together, so wisdom well placed holds meaning and purpose together.
4 The one Shepherd is not god in any anthropomorphic sense, but The God, reality itself. Koheleth is the Assembler of Wisdom, not its creator. Ecclesiastes is a book of reasoned insight, not revealed truth. Koheleth did what you can do: examine the nature of reality and see what is true. Not true for him or true for you or true for some elect or elite, but true for all.
If nothing else, let this book be a catalyst to your own investigations. Look for yourself and see what is so, and live in harmony with reality, for to do anything less is needless vexing of heart, mind, and spirit, robbing you of the only joy there is: living in harmony with the moment, no matter what it contains.
5 The compilations of the wise are worthy of study, but do not imagine that they are the only books being published. Every author lays claim to wisdom, but few actually have it. Do not put your faith in any book, but only in those whose wisdom you can attest.
6 Just as there is no end to the making of books, so is there no end to the study of them. But wisdom is not complicated, and Koheleth sought to write plainly. If you have to exhaust yourself making sense of another’s wisdom, chances are it isn’t all that wise.
7 Here is the literal translation of the final two verses of Ecclesiastes: “The end of the matter when all is done: Fear The God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all humankind: that The God will judge every deed good or ill, even those that are hidden.” Despite the editor’s continued use of “The God,” HaElohim, he is clearly referring to the anthropomorphic God of the Jews and the commandments found in Torah. This is the attempt of a later editor to bring the radical wisdom of Koheleth into line with the conventional wisdom and theology of mainstream Judaism.
My own rendering attempts to read these added verses in light of Koheleth’s original text. The God is reality, and the universal imperative of the wise is to eat simply, drink moderately, work meaningfully, and cultivate love and friendship.
8 What is good? Living with wisdom and thus eating wisely, drinking moderately, working meaningfully, and cultivating love and friendship. What is evil? Living foolishly, and pursuing power, fame, wealth, and permanence.
• “As a solid rock is not moved by the wind, wise people are not shaken by blame or by praise.” (Dhammapada 6:6)
Rami Shapiro, ed., Ecclesiastes: Annotated & Explained, trans. Rami Shapiro, SkyLight Illuminations Series (Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2010), 109–111.
As you can see the translation is nothing ground breaking and the notes are interesting but basically nothing beyond a study Bible level....
-Dan
This book here is very annoying as it has lots of sections double columned meaning you have to read one and then scroll back up to continue:
1 Although Symeon the New Theologian quotes the already old saying that “your cell can teach you everything,” Evagrios says that the cell itself may also become a distraction. For him, the chief criterion “for testing the value of everything” is stillness (hesychia).
2 Because the human being is a psychosomatic unity, stillness of the body is necessary in order to achieve inner stillness.
3 Love is always the foundational commandment and gift, but in order to maintain it, both stillness and detachment from things are very important.
If you find yourself growing strongly attached to your cell, leave it, do not cling to it, be ruthless. Do everything possible to attain stillness and freedom from distraction, and struggle to live according to God’s will, battling against invisible enemies. If you cannot attain stillness where you now live, consider living in exile, and try to make up your mind and go. Be like an astute businessman: make stillness your criterion for testing the value of everything, and choose always what contributes to it.1
Evagrios the Solitary
I, On Asceticism and Stillness
He who wants to cross the spiritual sea is long-suffering, humble, vigilant, and self-controlled. If he impetuously embarks on it without these four virtues, he agitates his heart, but cannot cross. Stillness helps us by making evil inoperative. If it also takes to itself these four virtues in prayer, it is the most direct support in attaining dispassion. The intellect cannot be still unless the body is still also; and the wall between them cannot be demolished without stillness and prayer.2
Allyne Smith, Philokalia: The Eastern Christian Spiritual Texts: Selections Annotated & Explained, trans. G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, SkyLight Illuminations Series (Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2012), 164–165.
Well, ok! Maybe Logos stumbled over a new wildly popular market!
$450 would tax my rationalizing brain. Especially when the main author is somewhere out there ( no offense to the gentleman).
