Tidbits of a paper

This is some work that I'm currently doing for a Traditio Paper on the parallels between Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes. Let me know what you think... these are some of the parallels that I think are there between Boethius and Ecclesiastes.

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Boethius and Ecclesiastes

Now that we have dealt with some of the parallels between Boethius and the Book of Job, I’d like to present the possibility of parallels between Boethius and the book of wisdom – Ecclesiastes. If we combine the parallels that we see in Boethius with both Job and Ecclesiastes, Boethius’ way style of writing becomes even clearer. With this in mind, here are some of the parallels we should note:

The preacher and Boethius
- In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, but which they may be exercised.” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-13)
o Solomon’s reasons for writing are different than Boethius’, but he is still seeking some of the same answers, and was also in a position of authority

Lady Wisdom and Lady Philosophy
- Wisdom is described as a woman all throughout Scripture, particularly in Proverbs, which Solomon also wrote. Even though there is no particular mention of wisdom as feminine in Ecclesiastes, I think it is safe to say that wisdom can still be referred to as a woman.
o “Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words:” (Proverbs 1:20-21)
o Lady philosophy is “perfect human wisdom, the highest achievement of human reason, and as such she appears as a static character.”[9] – 17 of above.

The use of Poetry and Prose in both
- “Boethius’ prose carries forward the argument of the work; his verse passages, as Rand observes, “have something of the effect of the choruses in a Greek tragedy or the meditative passages in Lucretius. They give the reader an outlook, and a downwards look from the height to which he has climbed by the steep path of the argument.”[10]
- I think Ecclesiastes does the same thing.

The conclusions of both

- “From this point to the end of the Consolation, Philosophy’s discourse elevates Boethius’ mind to the contemplation of the divine mind, insofar as such contemplation can be achieved through the exercise of human reason unaided by suprarational revelation.”[11]
- In the end, the conclusions of the two authors are quite different. Solomon says that the answer is that all is vanity and striving after wind. But we are to obey the commands of God and not worry about everything else, because such is the way of life. This is the Fortune that Boethius refers to, and that we see as the outworking of the Divine Will. From our perspective, Fortune is what happens to us day in and day out, and sometimes good things happen and sometimes great calamities beset us. We are to understand these occurrences in light of God, though, and when we do that, we understand that it is also in accordance with His Divine Will. Boethius doesn’t look at his calamity in the light of God, but goes about in a Greek philosophical way, and therefore misses the boat.

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[9] Michael D. Cherniss, Boethian Apocalypse, (Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, 1987), 17.

[10] Ibid, 19.

[11] Ibid, 26.