N. T. Wright on Christian ethics

One book I'd like to go back and re-read is N. T. Wright's After You Believe, a portion of which you can listen to below. I love the way he sets up the basis for Christian discussion of ethics. I can't wait to read his new volumes on Paul as well. I find so much of his material to be helpful.

Ecclesiastes and the rest of the canon on death, suffering, etc.

Here is a short reflection paper I wrote for my OT Wisdom class last semester. Enjoy!

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Ecclesiastes

Interpretation, Evaluation, Application

Analysis (Interpretation)

Scattered throughout the gloomy vision of life which we find in the book of Ecclesiastes are seemingly out of place wisdom sayings that we might expect to be in the book of Proverbs. Many of them, like those found in Proverbs, concern themselves with shaping the character of the reader/listener so that they may live a prosperous, honorable, and generally pleasant life. In 7:9, for example, we read: “Be not quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” These statements stand in stark contrast to the dark tone of the rest of the book. The treatment of proverbial material in Ecclesiastes, therefore, reveals a crucial step in the development of Hebrew wisdom traditions in balancing the view of wisdom as the key to a blessed life on the one hand with the finality of life and reality of death on the other hand.

There are two major sections in which the author has incorporated traditional wisdom proverbial materials: 7:1-14 and 10:1-11:10. After spending the first six chapters declaring the vanity of life and existence, the book makes a sudden shift in chapter 7 with a list of proverbs similar to Prov. 2:1-22. In many of these proverbs, two things (or habits, ways of life) are contrasted and then substantiated with a conclusion. For example, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting [contrast]; for [substantiation] this is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart [conclusion]” (7:2).

This shift to these proverbs is swift, as the author moves from lamenting the vanity and shortness of life in 6:10-12 to discussing the value of a good name in 7:1. However, about half-way through these proverbs, the author returns to his gloomy mood in 7:5-6: “It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.” Nevertheless, although he returns to his familiar phrase concerning vanity at the conclusion, he has perhaps done so only partially, as he is referring here specifically to the laughter of fools as vanity. Such a statement would not be out of place in Proverbs. However, at the conclusion of this collection of proverbial material, he returns full force to the vanity of life, lamenting the unjust deaths of righteous men and unjustly prolonged life of the wicked.

The next section in which traditional proverbial material has been incorporated is 10:1-11:10. Here there is perhaps a smoother transition, as the writer speaks briefly in 9:17-18 of the value of wisdom. In the verses that follow, he gives examples of this wisdom with traditional proverbs like “Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything” (10:19). As this section is brought to a close, we also see a smooth transition back to the dark tone pervading the rest of the book. In 11:8, man is instructed to rejoice in his days of life, but to remember that the days of darkness will be many, and that all is vanity. Next, the youth is exhorted to rejoice, but assured that God will bring him to judgment (11:9). Finally, this section of proverbs concludes with the declaration that “youth and the dawn of life are vanity” (11:10).

To this material, we may add the poem of 3:1-9 about the “season and time for every matter under heaven” (3:1). Rather than exhorting readers to a prosperous life through wise advice, this section simply ponders the different seasons and times of life. Yet whereas the Lord’s speech in Job 38-41 concerning his creation of the world can inspire awe and reverence, for the author of Ecclesiastes, this reflection on the cycles of life in the end only produces despair: “What gain has the worker from his toil?” (3:9). Like in his treatment of the proverbial material above, the Preacher sees his reflection on life cycles to be vanity as well. (One does not necessarily get this bleak conclusion in listening to the Byrds’ adaptation of this poem in their 1965 song “Turn Turn Turn”!)

Yet in looking at Qoheleth’s treatment of traditional proverbial material and wisdom themes, the book of Ecclesiastes does not represent an end of the Hebrew wisdom tradition. As noted above, the tension between the traditional wisdom material and repeated declaration that all is vanity rather reveals a crucial step in the development of this tradition. Each of the sections noted above – 3:1-9, 7:1-14, and 10:1-11:10 – all end with a summary that it is all vanity, just as the rest of life and existence is all vanity, because in the end, all life is destroyed as the world continues to turn, and nothing is new under the sun. However, curiously, the conclusion of 12:9-14 ends on a different note.

The final pericope begins with a summary by a later editor of the wisdom, teaching, and proverbs of Qoheleth (12:9-10). He then attributes such sayings of the wise to one Shepherd (12:11), warning the reader to “beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (12:12). Finally, he concludes with an admonition to fear God and keep his commandments, “for God will bring every deed into judgment” (12:14). On the surface, this final admonition begs the question, “Why?” Why bother to fear God and obey the commandments if in the end it is all vanity? There is no hint in the text of eternal life, heaven, or resurrection. However, the book does end on a note of hope. The implication, as I see it, is an affirmation that, yes, the traditional proverbial wisdom will only take one so far before one realizes that they are still approaching death. However, even though we do not understand it, we know that God is faithful and all-knowing. Therefore, the reader is urged to faith(fulness) and obedience in the hope that somehow this faithful God will redeem all the vanity of life over which Qoheleth has despaired. We must wait for other books of the canon to see how this is accomplished.

Evaluation

The shift in understanding noted above in Ecclesiastes with regard to traditional proverbial wisdom is similar to what takes place in Job. There we are told that Job is “blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil” (1:1). According to traditional Israelite proverbial wisdom, this was the key to prosperity and a blessed life, as evidenced by Job’s children and possessions. However, something happens to throw this entire understanding of the connection between righteous living and blessings up in the air: Job loses everything – his children, his possessions, and even his health (1:13-19; 2:7-8). He then spends the majority of the book arguing with his friends about why the righteous suffer and the wicked often prosper until finally the Lord answers Job, essentially telling him that he cannot possibly fathom the mind of God (chs. 38-41). This prompts Job’s repentance, which leads to the restoration of his prosperity (ch. 42).

Job, therefore, also represents a turning point in the evolving understanding of Israel’s wisdom tradition. Whereas Proverbs continually affirms wise habits which will lead to a blessed life, Job illustrates that this is not always so. However, whereas the Lord’s answer to Job prompts his repentance, Ecclesiastes takes this canonical conversation in an entirely different direction: If our traditional wisdom does not necessarily lead to a blessed life, if the righteous often suffer unjustly, and if the wicked often prosper, then what use is it all? Vanity of vanities! Furthermore, regardless of how blessed our lives are, if we all die anyway and are forgotten, again, what is the point of it all? All life is vanity and striving after wind.

There is thus a clear progression of thought from Proverbs to Job to Ecclesiastes when we allow these three books to engage in canonical conversation. If Ecclesiastes ended at 12:8 (which it perhaps originally did), this conversation would not end on a very hopeful note. But the final words of the editor of Ecclesiastes (12:9-14) are more than a “cautionary footnote by an orthodox editor,” as the footnote says in my New Oxford Annotated Bible. Rather they are words of hope in the midst of seeming despair: Yes, the righteous suffer; yes, the wicked prosper; yes, we all die. Nevertheless, we know God is faithful and all-powerful. As Job found out, we cannot possibly know the ways of God. Yet we can trust that in some way, he will bring order out of this seeming chaos. So let’s not abandon him just yet. “Fear God, and keep his commandments” (12:13).

Fortunately, our canonical conversation does not end with this flicker of blind hope in the midst of utter despair at the end of Ecclesiastes. A hint at eternity may already be implied in Moses’ farewell speech in Deut. 28-30: “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil…therefore choose life that you and your descendants may live” (30:15, 19). This understanding of eternity becomes more explicit as we read on through the Old Testament. For instance, in the Psalms we hear “The righteous shall be preserved forever…” (37:28b) and “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (73:26). These verses may not have triggered the explicit notion of heaven or eternal life in the minds of the original hearers; however, in hindsight, we can see the understanding of eternity developing in such texts.

Likewise, in Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant (Is. 53), after “he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days” (53:10). Likewise, in Malachi 2:17-3:18, the coming of the Messiah (3:1-4) is connected to redemption of the righteous who fear the Lord, whose names are written before him on a book of remembrance (3:16). For them, “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings” (4:2). There is thus an implied connection being drawn between the coming of the Messiah and eternal life.

When we reach the New Testament, with Jesus, we see a greater turning point in the development of Israelite wisdom, as the laments of Ecclesiastes are fully answered. First, in Mt. 5:1-12, the blessings of books like Proverbs are completely turned on their heads. Rather than blessing being equated with immediate gratification, victory over earthly enemies, material prosperity, and progeny, Jesus declares that truly blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. Each of these seemingly ironic statements are substantiated with more explicit references to eternity – for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, for they shall inherit the earth, for your reward is great in heaven. A similar paradox can be seen in Mark 8:31-9:2 in which Jesus instructs his disciples not only that he will suffer and die, but that they too must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him (i.e. as if in procession to their own crucifixion). Jesus then gives the climax of the paradox: it is only by dying that they will be given life (8:35), whereas it is possible for one to gain the whole world and lose one’s life (the very thing lamented in Ecclesiastes).

The question of the suffering of the righteous is addressed in John 9, which opens with a man who had been born blind. Jesus’ disciples ask him whether the man or his parents had sinned so that he was born blind. Jesus’ response is very similar to the conversation in Job between the Lord and Satan: As with Job, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (Jn. 3). Jesus then heals the man, thus confirming that sin is not necessarily related to suffering in  this life.

In Romans, Paul seems most emphatically to be giving a direct response to the laments of Ecclesiastes. When Qoheleth asks what the point of life is given the reality of death, Paul gives a fuller response than Qoheleth’s editor: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:31-35). Through the lens of Christ’s resurrection, we are able to see the proverbial wisdom of Israel in a new light. Yes, the wisdom of Proverbs only takes us so far; yes, the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper; yes, we all die and return to dust. But, says the New Testament, that is not the final word on the matter. The pious editor of Ecclesiastes was right to instruct us to nevertheless fear God, although he had an incomplete understanding of how God would redeem death. Now we can see more clearly through the lens of Christ’s own death and resurrection that death has been conquered. Though we still die, we also shall live and be raised just as Christ was raised. While the righteous often suffer in this life, they will be granted blessings in eternity far greater than the immediate material blessings promised in Proverbs. Likewise, the wicked may prosper in this life, but unless they repent, they will suffer far worse in eternity than any sufferings imaginable in this life.

If we looked at the above data as unbelievers, perhaps studying the “history of religions,” we might say that the movement from Proverbs to Job to Ecclesiastes to the Prophets and the New Testament is indicative of an evolutionary thought process – that the Israelites gradually came to see things differently in light of their experience and perhaps through contact with neighbors of different religions. Looking at this movement as believers, we can affirm additionally that it is the product of progressive revelation. The original hearers of Proverbs were not ready to hear Jesus’ beatitudes and the teaching on resurrection. The Lord, therefore, met them where they were, and guided them along over centuries to a fuller understanding of his will of salvation for all.

Application

Hermeneutically, it is very important to understand this movement throughout the text and not read more positive glosses into books like Ecclesiastes. The book must stand as it is, for we can never truly grasp the power of the resurrection until we lament the finality and vanity of death with Qoheleth. Furthermore, even in light of heaven and the coming resurrection, it reminds us how truly tragic death is. We cannot truly appreciate the resurrection unless we realize this. We see the tragedy of death either denied or trivialized much today – from pithy sayings on Hallmark cards to sermons given at funerals which only focus on the happy times from the deceased’s life. Reading Ecclesiastes as it stands reminds us of the true disaster and sadness of it all. This should never be forgotten, neither should death be spoken of as a friend. Rather, it is an enemy of humanity, and an enemy that has been conquered by Christ and his resurrection.

However, in light of Christ and the resurrection, we do read Ecclesiastes, as well as Proverbs and Job, in a different way. We read the laments, as well as the editor’s admonitions to fear God and keep the commandments, knowing that death does not have the last word. We read Proverbs knowing that the blessings in store for us far outweigh the earthly blessings promised there. This shapes the way we approach death in our own lives and in those of our loved ones – we lament its presence with Qoheleth, as it robs children of their mothers, husbands of their wives, and friends of their friends. Yet we also approach it with the knowledge that it has been defeated through Christ’s resurrection, and it will therefore not have the last word with us. Let us therefore say with Qoheleth’s pious editor, possessing in ourselves more knowledge as it has been revealed to us by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Job's blessing

For most English speakers who have read the book of Job, the following words of Satan in the book are familiar: "But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face" (Job 1:11; cf. 2:5). To Satan's dismay, after Job's children are killed and he loses his possessions, he instead blesses the name of the Lord (1:21).

What many may not know is that the Hebrew word translated "curse" in 1:11 is the exact same word translated "bless" in 1:21. I was surprised to find this out in my Old Testament Wisdom class last semester as I worked my way through the first chapter in Hebrew. The word is barak, and it is almost always translated into English as "bless." In fact, in my Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, under the nifal (passive/reflexive) stem of this word, five glosses are given, all of them some form of "to be blessed." Following all this is one final gloss: "euphemism for 'curse'." So although it usually means "bless," there are also times when it is used to mean the opposite.

By the way, I found it interesting that the LXX translators retained this wording, unlike most English translators, using eulogeo: anga aposteilon tēn cheira sou kai apsai pantōn ōn echei ei mēn eis prosōpon se eulogēsei.

The only other instance I am aware of in the Hebrew Bible when it also has the opposite meaning is 1 Kings 21:10-13. Here, Jezebel instructs the nobles in Naboth's city to bring the charge against Naboth, "You have cursed God and the king." Except what she actually says is "You have blessed God and the king," with barak used as a euphemism. We have to rely on context when deciding whether the word actually means blessing or is being used as a euphemism for "curse."

This produces a certain irony in the first chapter of Job, as Satan's actual words in 1:11 are, "He will bless thee to thy face." This is what happens in 1:21, though in the opposite way meant by Satan, as Job truly blesses the name of the Lord.

Preparing for Dr. Ben's class

People often give me a puzzled look on campus when they find out I'm Eastern Orthodox and studying at Asbury. Their follow-up question is usually, "When did you become Orthodox?", thinking most likely that it must have been since I started my studies at Asbury. Why else would an Eastern Orthodox Christian choose to study at a Wesleyan school, when there are some very fine Orthodox seminaries in this country? When I answer that I have been Orthodox since 1987, the look in response is even more puzzling. "Why are you here then?" they ask.

The answer is Ben Witherington. When I was laid off from my job in 2009, I saw it as an opportunity to go back to school, but had no idea how to choose a graduate program. (I also had no idea that, if someone chooses to get an M.A. from a seminary in preparation for doctoral work, it is usually from one's own ecclesial tradition. Hence the puzzled look on people's faces.) I decided that I would focus on the scholars I enjoyed reading the most and see about the possibility of studying under them.

First on the list was N. T. Wright. While that would have been a dream come true, he is at the University of St. Andrews, and I knew from the start that moving to Great Britain would not be a possibility.

Next on the list was Ben Witherington here at Asbury. I had read many of his books over the previous ten years, beginning with his commentary on Acts. I had never been to Kentucky, but after my wife's visit here in 2010, we decided it would be a good move.

The ironic thing, as I prepare to graduate in December, is that I have not to date taken a single class under Dr. Witherington, nor have I met him. It seems fitting then that I will finish off my seminary education this Fall with his class on New Testament Theology.

I've been preparing by immersing myself in his books from the syllabus. This morning I was particularly interested in reading in The Problem with Evangelical Theology his thoughts on the Pauline "I" of Romans 7: In other words, when Paul says "I" in this chapter, is he merely talking about himself? Or speaking on behalf of a particular Jewish individual or Jews as a whole? Or humanity as a whole? Or is he just speaking generally of no one in particular? I was interested that he appeals to the Greek Fathers in seeking to understand Paul's thought.

This is an example of how an Eastern Orthodox Christian could be so valuable to the field of Pauline studies. So much of the so-called "New Perspective" on Paul is a reaction to Luther's reading of Paul, which was based on Augustine's reading. Yet long before Sanders, Dunn, or Wright, the Greek Fathers such as John Chrysostom offered an alternative to Augustine's understanding of many aspects of Paul's thought. I hope in my own work in the future to reintegrate them into the discussion of what Paul said and meant.

Here are some of the books I'm reading for the class, if anyone is interested:

Unsolicited Plug for Nijay Gupta's Book/Blog

I mentioned in my initial post that I'm pursuing a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. Hopefully, that will soon change to a PhD in New Testament, as I'm on track to graduate this December and am looking to enroll in a PhD program next Fall (2014). I have wanted to do this for a long time, so when I lost my job in 2009, I dove in head first and enrolled in my current program, not really knowing what getting a PhD (and afterwards a teaching position) entailed. I've learned a lot the last couple of years, mostly through experience, and some lessons less fun than others. But along the way, I've been blessed with some great resources from others who have trodden this path before me.

Other than talking with my professors, by far the best resource I've found on getting a PhD/starting a career in Biblical Studies has been Nijay Gupta. I've never met him or spoken to him, but about two years ago, just as my wife and I were moving to KY, I came across his website, which has tons of valuable information about getting into a PhD program, successfully navigating and completing the program and dissertation, and getting hired afterwards. Not long after I stumbled onto his blog, I ordered his book, Prepare Succeed Advance, on the same topic, which has much more information than his website.

Since I regularly refer back to his book, I thought I would offer a plug on this blog. He covers everything from the preparation required before applying for a PhD program to getting articles published to expanding your CV to preparing for job interviews. His blog is also regularly updated with interesting news in the field of Biblical Studies. Most recently, he has a helpful post on "10 Lessons Learned About Publishing as an Editor," reflecting on the last couple of years as co-founder and co-editor of the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters. I'm working on a couple of articles currently for publication, so I found this helpful as usual.

Anyway, if you're interested in pursuing a PhD in Biblical Studies, definitely check out his book and website. Along with Ben Witherington's Is There a Doctor in the House?, it is packed full of useful advice and information about breaking into the field.