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There are no pre-packaged "magic bullet" solutions to life's anticipated and unforeseen hurdles. Catastrophe to Hope: Five Voices of the Bible underscores the inevitable: everyone endures episodes of suffering and trauma. When this happens a person can choose to take "baby" steps to restore some semblance of psychological and spiritual balance.
Catastrophe to Hope unveils a blueprint for gradual recovery by looking to five books from the Hebrew Bible for inspiration. Read in light of each other, the books of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of Songs, and Ruth forge a path that slowly moves from the shadows into sunlight.
If Lamentations and Ecclesiastes have much to say about languishing in pits of agony and anguish, Esther shows how the will to survive can turn the tables on evil that relies on lies. To restore a measure of equilibrium opens the door to engaging the Song of Songs with its soaring proclamation that love is as fierce as death. The journey toward recovery culminates with Ruth's transitioning from trauma to triumph and her stalwart conviction that resilience and hope are vital components of humanity's spiritual DNA.
Catastrophe to Hope adds several inspirational stories to punctuate its message of mending and healing. They include works by Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Elie Wiesel, Cynthia Ozick, and the life of Joseph P. Kennedy.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The First Scroll: Lamentations
2 The Second Scroll: Ecclesiastes
3 The Third Scroll: Esther
4 The Fourth Scroll: Song of Songs
5 The Fifth Scroll: Ruth
Postscript
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
About the author
Harvey W. Meirovich is visiting professor at the Zecharias Frankel College and at the School of Jewish Theology, University of Potsdam and author of A Vindication of Judaism: The Polemics of the Hertz Pentateuch.
Summary
The premise of Catastrophe and Hope is that every person connects the "dots" of his/her life with subjective significance. Similarly, connecting the "dots" of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of Songs, and Ruth, in this sequence, forges a pattern of "seeing" that moves gradually from catastrophe to resilience and hope.
