Mr. Q Has Left The Building

Just a quick note of self congratulations. Tonight I finished the last of Mr. Q's lectures (12:8). I first put pen to paper December 21, 2011. His departure 3 months later, ends like his arrival, with him muttering "meaningless, meaningless."

If I draw this thing correctly, there will be a tinge of cinematic drama in his departure. The class has dwindled by attrition (many if not most couldn't hack his outrageous claims and walked out or dropped the class) but the few who remain have become stalwarts of Qoholeth the Teacher.

I gotta say I was sad to see him go. This is a good sign. If I, probably the most exasperated "student" of all, grew fond of the the old buzzard, I hope readers will, too.

All that's left now is to bring the TA to the front of the class and have her wrap up the loose ends (and do damage control)! Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 are not the words of Qoholeth but of an editor who added their commentary on the lectures just delivered.

I'm highly persuaded the book of Ecclesiastes is loaded with additions, glosses, and inserted verses by persons other than Mr. Q, but for artistic purposes I've made all those (often contradictory) comments come from the mouth of Mr. Q. It's possible the giant leaps and flip flops are the machinations of a double minded soul, or even a moody and intentionally enigmatic singular author, but I think not. Readers of the graphic novel will never know this, only those who bother themselves to read this blog, the behind the scenes look of creation at work.

Mr. Q has left the building. While he's gone I'll reread his entire lecture, tweaking the student comments, and designing his body, size, shape, attire, cranium and facial features.

Finished Chapter Eight!

As mentioned, Ecclesiastes has 12 chapters. We know these were not part of the original manuscript but were added later by (we presume) well-intentioned scribes and amanuenses. In my research I came across a 1919 commentary in which the author Morris Jastrow made his own outline; he created 24 "sections." I found his division compelling and am using it. Not sure that readers of the final product will pay attention to this but smaller chunks of text are easier to manage. I have therefore just finished section 19 with 5 to go. Or by the old reckoning, I've finished 8 chapters with 4 to go. 5 is more than 4 but 19 is more than 8....so I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm far along and nearing the finish line!

If one counts verses, I've completed 158 with 64 to go. Technically, this doesn't tell us much because one lengthy verse could be broken down into 4 or 5 pages of text. How I divide verses will be the subject of another post.

As I ponder each section (usually 10 - 20 verses) I do not go back and reread the dialog I've written in earlier sections. I imagine I'm a student in Mr. Q's class without total recall of what he's said earlier. I face each verse and imagine how 21st century college students would react. The final three verses of this chapter are some of my favorites which was a nice gift since some of the earlier verses were my least favorite (because they are repetitious).

Here is the final verse:

"No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, humanity can not discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it." 

Some commentators chalk up this uncertainty to Qoholeth's lack of faith, unbelieving heart, and secular humanism. Goodness! I do not. I think Mr. Q is a man of faith and an honest observer of life's conundrums. What knocks his socks off is that those conundrums do not fit his theology of a commensurate link between righteousness and health/wealth.

In a fit of creative energy I put the following words into the mouth of the evangelical student in the class (set to the tune of that old Shaker hymn, 'Tis a Gift to be Simple).

'Tis a gift to be certain; I’ve a brain that’s doubt free.
‘Tis a gift knowing life has no ambiguity.
And when I have some questions I do not get up tight;
I ignore pesky facts with all of my might.
When happy certitude is gain'd,
My black and white brain will not be asham'd,
Avoiding counter evidence will be my delight,
Till by turning, turning I come 'round right.

I hope this graphic novel comes out right!

Multiple Authors?

Chapter 7 of Ecclesiastes poses a delightful problem for scholars. The content of the chapter is random, out of sync with the rest of the book, and inconsistent with earlier and later chapters. This raises an important question, "Why was Qoheleth so self contradictory?" Here are some of the answers I've read.  

1. He was demon possessed and saw no internal inconsistencies. This notion is echoed by Bible commentator C. I. Scofield of Scofield Bible fame. He wrote, "These reasonings of man apart from divine revelation are set down by inspiration just as the words of Satan" (p. 702).
2. He was being intentionally obtuse, sarcastic, and provocative but really didn't believe many of his utterances. This is the view of Baptist pastor/teacher Bob Utley who wrote, "Remember this is a tongue-in-cheek (like, “under the sun”) sarcasm on life without God."
3. He was in such existential pain he included in his "journal" comments as he felt them with no concern for  internal consistency. It was stream of consciousness babbling from a wounded, unbelieving soul. This is my take on Chuck Swindoll (Living on the Ragged Edge) and Derek Kidner (The Message of Ecclesiastes).
4. He wasn't being self contradictory. He wrote coherently, consistently, and presented a unified message. It was other well meaning but clumsy editors who added quips and quotes to Qoheleth's manuscript. This is the position of a 1919 commentary, A Gentle Cynic by Morris Jastrow.

Option 4 seems most likely to me. Multiple authors raises questions of inspiration which we can explore later. But the evidence for multiple authors seems most compelling.

1. Our English Bibles call this book Ecclesiastes which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word, “Qoheleth” which means “one who assembles a group." The title is therefore the work of a Greek translator. Nothing is lost by this change, but it does remind us the words we read go through the filter of others’ packaging.
2. Additions at the end of other books of the Bible are common: Job 31:40, Prov. 30, Mark 16.  Somebody added a postscript to the Pentateuch describing Moses’ death. He didn’t write it himself.
3. Most works of the Ancient Near East (ANE), including the Bible, were anonymous. Printed (written) words were secondary to spoken words. This explains why Jesus never wrote a book.
4. Hebrew language has many words for speaker, none for author. Scribes were mere copyists of others’ words or even their own.
5. Most works of ancient literature were edited by later redactors. This was common AND a sign of a work’s popularity.
6. The notion of individual authorship is a later invention, unknown in ANE.
7. Psalms were by multiple authors yet are known as works of David.
8. Proverbs was by Solomon AND the men of Hezekiah, Lemuel, Proverbs 22:17; 24:23. Chapter 30 is attributed to Agur, Son of Jakeh.
9. Chapter and verse divisions were not in the original. Somebody added these later.
10. The final paragraph in Ecclesiastes 12 is either by the author in the third person or an addition by an editor.
11. The phenomenon of writers adding to previously written stuff continued to the days of Shakespeare whose early plays were his emendations of earlier plays.  In our own day think Wikipedia.
12. Ecclesiastes’ lament, “the writing of many books,” seems to disparage written words, a likely interpretation if a later editor was trying to downplay the pessimism of Qoheleth.
13. The modern crime of plagiarism was unknown in the ANE. Adding one’s own comments wasn’t odd, unethical, or unusual.
14. Jastrow speculates that an anonymous philosopher put unorthodox words into print and to increase his credibility posed as rich, wise (1:16), King like Solomon (1 Kings 5:9-11). Later editors uncritically believed it actually was by Solomon and spiffed up the unorthodox text by adding orthodox glosses, proverbs, and insertions. The problem is that the additions contradicted the philosopher’s original text. 
15. Jastrow further muses that had these editors not added orthodox glosses the book would never have made it into the canon, it was just too unorthodox.

Why is this important to me? Because I'm debating whether or not to put these glosses in the mouth of a guest teacher. If I keep Mr. Q in front of the class uttering all these contradictory phrases the class will be shocked. As I have one student say, "My brain just got whip lashed." 


On the other hand, but putting Mr. Q's TA up front she can blather on however she wishes and the inconsistencies will lose their sting. We just chalk it up to two minds coming up with different slants on things. 


The problem with this: another commentator, George Barton (1908), thinks there were up to nine redactors. Do I put nine guest speakers up front? Then my brain will get whip lashed!


Such are the issues I'm debating as I create this graphic novel. I can't wait to see what I decide!