Get Free Access to Our Ecclesiastes Online Course: How to Find Joy in a Futile World

You're going to die.

So is everyone you love. Everything you've built will eventually belong to someone else or no one at all. The sun will rise, the sun will set, and the earth will continue on its course as though you never existed.

This isn't pessimism. This is the opening argument of Ecclesiastes, the only work of philosophy in the entire Hebrew Bible, written roughly 2,300 years ago by a man who had achieved everything and declared it all futile. And from inside that futility, he found something no one expected: a path to joy.

Now, University of Austin Professor J.J. Kimche, an intellectual historian whose work spans European philosophy, Jewish thought, and the trajectory of religious ideas in the modern West, is making his acclaimed lecture series available to anyone, completely free.

Across six lectures, Professor Kimche guides you through every dimension of this extraordinary text and the 2,300 years of thinkers who couldn't leave it alone.

Is everything futile? Why do good people die young? Where is God? Is this the Bible's most dangerous book? Is being alone a choice? What does it all mean?

Inside the free course, you will find:

• Every major theme in Ecclesiastes: Meaning, futility, joy, death, God, and the history of interpretation, in one free series.
• How to Live Well in a World You Cannot Control: Kohelet's "ethic of alignment," explored alongside the Stoics, Epicureans, and Marcus Aurelius.
• The Bible's Most Honest Reckoning with Death: A close reading of what Professor Kimche calls "one of the most haunting reflections upon death that exists anywhere in all of literature."
• Joy Because of Futility, Not Despite It: The paradox at the heart of Ecclesiastes — that it is precisely because life is fleeting that the bread, the wine, the evening with those you love, becomes profound.
• 2,300 Years of Brilliant Disagreement: From the rabbis who tried to bury the book to Martin Luther, Albert Camus, and Kierkegaard — every era found a different Ecclesiastes staring back at them.

Whether you are a person of faith, a student of philosophy, or simply someone who refuses to stop asking the hard questions, this course will change the way you think about purpose, time, and what it means to live well.

Get free access to the full 6-part course using the form below.