Tag: mortality
-
What We Are To Each Other Sticks: On Kohelette and the Power of Memories
What we are to each other doesn’t go away. Our people don’t go away. And that changes everything.
-
On Ecclesiastes and Tending the Wind
It’s done. I finished. I wanted more from the book of Ecclesiastes. I wanted the author to address things he didn’t address. And since he didn’t, I wrote the novella To Tend the Wind. In the short video below, I say a bit more about the thinking behind my writing process … For even more context…
-
On Ecclesiastes and Women
I’m trying to imagine myself among those gathered to hear Qohelet speak. (Qohelet, Koheleth, the Preacher, the Teacher – different translations of the Bible refer to the author of Ecclesiastes in different ways.) Would there be any other women there, and would we even have opportunity to experiment in the ways Qohelet says he experimented,…
-
On Ecclesiastes and Hope … or Not
Does a story (or any other creative work, for that matter) need to evoke hope if it’s to be life-giving? Or liberating? Or beautiful, true, or otherwise “good”? I’ve been pondering this since a conversation with colleagues a while back. As I’ve mentioned, I’m in the middle of something called the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Seminar (RSA),…
-
On Ecclesiastes and Pushing Back
What if I told you that all your efforts amounted to no more than a mere breath? And not even to a deep and life-giving breath, but only the weak vapor of an exhale? Hevel – breath. It’s the Hebrew word the King James Bible translates as “vanity.” More recently, Robert Alter has translated it as “mere breath,” like…
-
Mourning, Longing, and Other Sacred Acts
What happens inside as you mourn? Where does mourning take you? I’m guessing a lot of us have much, much more familiarity with mourning since 2020. We’ve lost things. We’ve lost people. As I, myself, have mourned, I’ve felt longing winding itself through that sense of loss. I long for people, I long for ways…
About the author
Callie J. Smith writes about women who, like her, are finding themselves. Her stories and essays explore everyday things like hope, creativity, and grief.
GIVEAWAY! During the month of August, enter to win a free review copy of the author-narrated audiobook edition of Kohelette. Click here to enter.
Shop the Mug Collection
Callie J. Smith 