Christ Church Studies

On the surface, Ecclesiastes seems to be a book of despair: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” But a closer read reveals it to be a sophisticated critique of common ways of finding meaning and happiness without God that directs our attention back to the absolute necessity of the gospel. In this lesson, we begin our study of this wonderful and often strange book by discussing two important keys for understanding Ecclesiastes as a whole and learning to appreciate its sober wisdom.

This week, we focus our attention on the ‘noble woman’ described in Proverbs 31. This noble woman is not simply a model of a good wife; she is an embodiment of wisdom itself, a heroic exemplar that we are meant to admire and emulate.

This week we examine a number of case studies from Proverbs 10-30 in order to learn how wisdom should be applied to the particular circumstances of our life. What kind of truth is proverbial truth? And why is virtue necessary for living wisely in the world?

In this lesson, we turn our attention to two competing voices that call for our attention in Proverbs 1-9 and two rival ‘ways’ by which we live: the way of wisdom and the way of folly. How do these two voices still call to us today? Which way will we choose?

This week’s lesson introduces the topic for our study—wisdom—by asking some basic questions about the nature of wisdom in the book of Proverbs: What is wisdom? Where does wisdom come from? And why communicate wisdom through proverbial sayings?