Koncepcje glosy i cytatu jako błędne podejścia do sprzeczności w Księdze Koheleta

Marcin Majewski

doi:10.21697/ct.2025.95.3.01

Published: 2025-08-31

Vol. 95 No. 3 (2025)

The Concepts of Gloss and Quotation as Incorrect Approaches to Contradictions in the Book of Ecclesiastes

Marcin Majewski

Collectanea Theologica

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2025.95.3.01

Abstract

One of the key problems in the interpretation of the Book of Ecclesiastes are the apparent or real contradictions that appear in it. Commentators deal with them in very different ways, most often by trying to harmonize divergent maxims. Less often, they treat the book as a dialogue with an external or internal interlocutor. In the course of exegesis, two other concepts of removing contradictions from the book were developed: the concept of gloss and the concept of quotation. Both are popular in Poland and in world literature. In this article, I show that although they have become a part of the interpretation of the Book of Ecclesiastes, they do not provide a convincing explanation of this problem. I point out serious weaknesses in both concepts, and in conclusion I suggest a different approach (in my opinion, better embedded in the text) to contradictions in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Keywords:

Book of Ecclesiastes, Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, contradictions, glosses, quotations

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Majewski, M. (2025). The Concepts of Gloss and Quotation as Incorrect Approaches to Contradictions in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Collectanea Theologica, 95(3), 423–453. https://doi.org/10.21697/ct.2025.95.3.01

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