Craig Bartholomew begins his discussion of the message of Ecclesiastes with the claim that “Ecclesiastes is not first a kerygmatic book, but rather one that calls the reader to engage with Qohelet’s journey and to enter into the dialogue he evokes” (93). Accordingly, he seeks to lead the reader with him into the often confusing world of Qoheleth and then to make sense of it. Bartholomew’s prior work on Ecclesiastes (Reading Ecclesiastes: Old Testament Exegesis and Hermeneutical Theory [AnBib 139; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1998]), as well as his role as founder-convener of the decade-long Scripture and Hermeneutics Project, has prepared him to read this enigmatic book in a fresh way. The lengthy introduction (making up more than a fifth of the text) covers the usual topics: title; canonicity; authorship and date; social setting; text; and structure. For the most part, Bartholomew does not depart from conventional critical viewpoints: the book “was regarded as authoritative well before the time of Christ” (19–20); internal and external evidence points to a postexilic origin; the book reflects the influence of various schools of Greek thought wedded to the biblical tradition; and its structure consists of a wide-ranging exploration (1:12–12:7) framed by two narratives (1:1–11 and 12:8–14). [Full Review]