Ecclesiastes Made Simple: The Old Testament Made Simple (Dr Anthony Loke) 9789832762072 (Pustaka Sufes)

Product Description：
The purpose of this book is to help readers to be familiar with the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. A cursory reading of it reveals a gloomy and pessimistic outlook. This immediately puts off many people. Why write a book on a book which is already pessimistic about life? One reason is that Ecclesiastes is a book Christians know very little We remember the famous phrase from the KJV translation, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” but the rest of the book is clouded in obscurity. As part of The Old Testament Made Simple series, the format is designed to make studying the Old Testament relatively “simple”. The series helps the reader to rediscover the wonderful but often neglected world of the Old Testament.

Ecclesiastes is a biblical book that remains closed to many Christians for various reasons. To some, it remains far removed from the relative doctrinal clarity and specificity of the Pauline epistles, or the gripping narratives found in other portions of the Bible. To others, there is lingering doubt about how much of the teaching of the book can be taken as didactic or readily placed within the Christian gospel message. Yet others may find the book rather pessimistic and depressing, and best avoided for more sunny biblical passages.

This leaves Ecclesiastes unopened for many Christians who are none the wiser of the important treasures it contains. This book written by Rev Anthony Loke helps to address this problem by providing a very readable guide to Ecclesiastes. This is his third book in the “Made Simple” series and is another evidence of his ability as a seminary teacher and pastor in helping Christians to understand Scripture. Loke uses his considerable exegetical skills as an Old testament scholar and his wide experience as a pastor to make Ecclesiastes accessible and understandable to the general reader.

Loke’s book bring this and other facts of Ecclesiastes out for the reader to appreciate. His ruminations and reflections are rooted in the Malaysian and wider Asian context, with many pertinent references to Malaysian society. He also uses many examples from films and popular songs to illustrate his insightful comments. All this makes this book unique and interesting, not merely helpful and instructive.

This book is immensely useful for personal and group study. It should be used widely in churches to study Ecclesiastes, and thus help Christians to appropriate its biblical wisdom in everyday living. Anthony Loke has done us a service by bringing out yet another “Made Simple” book that is disarmingly simple and yet poignantly profound. It would be a valuable resoure for Christians who are serious about understanding and applying the Bible in their daily lives. I heartily recommend this book as one that should be widely used.

Bishop Robert Solomon 
Methodist Church in Singapore