Chester Brown's Gospel adaptations
Encyclopedia
Chester Brown
's "eccentric adaptations" of some of the Gospels appeared in his comic book
s Yummy Fur and Underwater
starting with the Gospel of Mark
in Yummy Fur #4 in 1987.
So far, Brown has finished his Gospel of Mark but not his Gospel of Matthew
, and hasn't tackled the other gospels. The stories have been on hiatus since 1997. Brown had planned to do all four of the official gospels, but in 2011 stated that it's unlikely he will finish even Matthew.
household. Over his career, he has gone back and forth between belief and non-belief in Christianity.
Brown took on his retelling of the Gospels to try to figure out what he really believed.
Begun in issue #4 of Yummy Fur in 1987, Mark started as a more-or-less straight, abridged illustration of the Gospel of Mark
. The adaptation became more idiosyncratic as it developed, however. On pages 55 and 56 Brown wove into the story a passage from the Secret Gospel of Mark
, a highly contentious and disputed document said to have been written by Clement of Alexandria
that Professor Robert Morton
claimed to have discovered in 1958.
The Gospel of Matthew started in issue #15 of Yummy Fur in 1989 and continued through to the premature end of Underwater
in 1997. As of 2011, it has yet to be finished.
Brown's gospels gained a reputation for being "ingeniously blasphemous" mainly from his Matthew retellings. In contrast to Marks Jesus, who is "serene and always in control," in Matthew he is a scowling, balding figure, and "there is a more radicalized disbelief and a greater focus on the fleshy and earthly aspects of the story." Brown's depiction of the Matthew's version of the Saviour is "a Jesus that shouts. He's a Jesus that screams," his face "haggard and worn, his dark hair matted and stringy."
The disciples are depicted as awkward, fearful and full of doubt, who are "barely able to reconcile the greatness of God with the miseries of their existence."
As Brown has pointed out, starting with the full-issue installment of Matthew in Yummy Fur #32, he deliberately changed Jesus' third-person references to himself to first-person references in the dialogue.
in 2011, he said he would not likely finish it, as his heart was no longer in it.
To Francis Hwang of City Pages
, "the paradox of faith
is brilliantly, heartbreakingly depicted" in the Gospel of Matthew.
and biblical
elements have found their way into almost all of Brown's work:
Chester Brown
Chester William David Brown , is an award-winning, best-selling Canadian alternative cartoonist and, since 2008, the Libertarian Party of Canada's candidate for the riding of Trinity-Spadina in Toronto, Canada....
's "eccentric adaptations" of some of the Gospels appeared in his comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s Yummy Fur and Underwater
Underwater
Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
starting with the Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
in Yummy Fur #4 in 1987.
So far, Brown has finished his Gospel of Mark but not his Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
, and hasn't tackled the other gospels. The stories have been on hiatus since 1997. Brown had planned to do all four of the official gospels, but in 2011 stated that it's unlikely he will finish even Matthew.
Brown's beliefs
Brown was brought up in a strictly Christian BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
household. Over his career, he has gone back and forth between belief and non-belief in Christianity.
Brown took on his retelling of the Gospels to try to figure out what he really believed.
The Gospel of Mark
| Appearances of The Gospel of Mark | ||
| Issue | Date | Passages |
|---|---|---|
| Yummy Fur # 4 | April 1987 | |
| Yummy Fur # 5 | June 1987 | |
| Yummy Fur # 6 | August 1987 | |
| Yummy Fur # 7 | 1987 | |
| Yummy Fur # 8 | November 1987 | |
| Yummy Fur # 9 | March 1988 | |
| Yummy Fur #10 | May 1988 | |
| Yummy Fur #11 | July 1988 | |
| Yummy Fur #12 | September 1988 | |
| Yummy Fur #13 | November 1988 | |
| Yummy Fur #14 | January 1989 | |
Begun in issue #4 of Yummy Fur in 1987, Mark started as a more-or-less straight, abridged illustration of the Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
. The adaptation became more idiosyncratic as it developed, however. On pages 55 and 56 Brown wove into the story a passage from the Secret Gospel of Mark
Secret Gospel of Mark
The Secret Gospel of Mark is a putative non-canonical Christian gospel known exclusively from the Mar Saba letter, which describes Secret Mark as an expanded version of the canonical Gospel of Mark with some episodes elucidated, written for an initiated elite.In 1973 Morton Smith , professor of...
, a highly contentious and disputed document said to have been written by Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
that Professor Robert Morton
Robert Morton
Robert Morton was an English composer of the early Renaissance, mostly active at the Burgundian court. He was highly regarded at the time. Only secular vocal music, all Rondeaux for three voices, survive.-Life:...
claimed to have discovered in 1958.
Mark Sources
When asked, Brown wrote in Yummy Fur #15 that he had a large number of sources for his adaptation of Mark. The most books he referred to most frequently were:- Green, Jay P., Sr. (editor), The Pocket Interlinear New Testament, Baker Book House (1979)
- The New International VersionNew International VersionThe New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan in the United States and by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, it has become one of the most popular modern translations in history.-History:...
of the Bible - The King James Version of the Bible
- Gaus, A. (translator), The Unvarnished GospelsUnvarnished New TestamentThe Unvarnished New Testament was translated by Andy Gaus as an attempt to produce a translation of the New Testament that was simpler and more straightforward than most Modern English Bible translations...
, Threshold Books (1988), ISBN 978-0-939660-25-4 - Nineham, D.E.Dennis NinehamDennis Eric Nineham is a British theologian and academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford from 1969 to 1979, as well as holding chairs in theology at the universities of London, Cambridge and Bristol.-Life:...
, Saint Mark: The Pelican New Testament Commentaries The Gospel of St. Mark, PelicanPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
(1972) - Laymon, Charles M. (editor), The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, Abingdon PressAbingdon PressAbingdon Press is the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House which publishes sheet music, ministerial resources, Bible-study aids, and other items, often with a focus on Methodism and Methodists. Abingdon Press was begun in the early 1900s by The Methodist Church, and is...
(1971) - Smith, MortonMorton SmithMorton Smith was an American professor of ancient history at Columbia University. He is best known for his controversial discovery of the Mar Saba letter, a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria containing excerpts from a Secret Gospel of Mark, during a visit to the monastery at Mar Saba in...
, The Secret Gospel, Dawn Horse Press (1973), about the Secret Gospel of MarkSecret Gospel of MarkThe Secret Gospel of Mark is a putative non-canonical Christian gospel known exclusively from the Mar Saba letter, which describes Secret Mark as an expanded version of the canonical Gospel of Mark with some episodes elucidated, written for an initiated elite.In 1973 Morton Smith , professor of... - Smith, MortonMorton SmithMorton Smith was an American professor of ancient history at Columbia University. He is best known for his controversial discovery of the Mar Saba letter, a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria containing excerpts from a Secret Gospel of Mark, during a visit to the monastery at Mar Saba in...
, Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God?Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God?Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God? is a 1978 book by Morton Smith arguing that the historical Jesus was a magician who "sprang from a Galilean strain of Semitic paganism" .-Background:...
, Harper & RowHarper (publisher)Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
(1978)
The Gospel of Matthew
| Appearances of The Gospel of Matthew | ||
| Issue | Date | Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Matthew The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth... |
|---|---|---|
| Yummy Fur #15 | March 1989 | |
| Yummy Fur #16 | June 1989 | |
| Yummy Fur #17 | August 1989 | |
| Yummy Fur #19 | January 1990 | |
| Yummy Fur #20 | April 1990 | |
| Yummy Fur #21 | June 1990 | |
| Yummy Fur #22 | September 1990 | |
| Yummy Fur #24 | April 1990 | |
| Yummy Fur #25 | July 1991 | |
| Yummy Fur #26 | October 1991 | |
| Yummy Fur #27 | January 1992 | |
| Yummy Fur #29 | August 1992 | |
| Yummy Fur #31 | September 1993 | |
| Yummy Fur #32 entire issue |
January 1994 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 2 |
December 1994 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 3 |
May 1995 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 4 |
September 1995 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 5 |
February 1996 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 6 |
May 1996 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 7 |
August 1996 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 8 |
December 1996 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... # 9 |
April 1997 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... #10 |
June 1997 | |
| Underwater Underwater (comics) Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator.... #11 |
October 1997 | |
The Gospel of Matthew started in issue #15 of Yummy Fur in 1989 and continued through to the premature end of Underwater
Underwater (comics)
Underwater was an alternative comic book by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown that was published from 1994 until 1997, when the ambitious project was abandoned unfinished by its creator....
in 1997. As of 2011, it has yet to be finished.
Brown's gospels gained a reputation for being "ingeniously blasphemous" mainly from his Matthew retellings. In contrast to Marks Jesus, who is "serene and always in control," in Matthew he is a scowling, balding figure, and "there is a more radicalized disbelief and a greater focus on the fleshy and earthly aspects of the story." Brown's depiction of the Matthew's version of the Saviour is "a Jesus that shouts. He's a Jesus that screams," his face "haggard and worn, his dark hair matted and stringy."
The disciples are depicted as awkward, fearful and full of doubt, who are "barely able to reconcile the greatness of God with the miseries of their existence."
As Brown has pointed out, starting with the full-issue installment of Matthew in Yummy Fur #32, he deliberately changed Jesus' third-person references to himself to first-person references in the dialogue.
Matthew sources
Amongst the books Brown cited for his Matthew adaptation are:- Shaberg, Jane. The Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives. Harper & RowHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
(1987) - Maccoby, HyamHyam MaccobyHyam Maccoby was a British Jewish scholar and dramatist specializing in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious tradition. His grandfather and namesake was Rabbi Hyam Maccoby , better known as the "Kamenitzer Maggid," a passionate religious Zionist and advocate of vegetarianism and animal...
. The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. Harper & Row (1986) - Barnstone, WillisWillis BarnstoneWillis Barnstone is an American poet, memoirist, translator, Hispanist, and comparatist. He has translated the Ancient Greek poets and the complete fragments of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus . He is also a New Testament and Gnostic scholar.-Life:Born in Lewiston, Maine, Barnstone grew...
(editor). The Other Bible: Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Christian Apocrypha, Gnostic Scriptures, Kabbalah, Dead Sea Scrolls. Harper & Row (1984) - Schonfield, HughHugh J. SchonfieldHugh Joseph Schonfield was a British Bible scholar specializing in the New Testament and the early development of the Christian religion and church. He was born in London, and educated there at St Paul's School and King's College, doing postgraduate religious studies in Glasgow, Doctor of Sacred...
. The Original New Testament. Harper & Row (1985)
Unfinished state
Matthew has been on hiatus since 1997, with the story left with Jesus about to enter Jerusalem. Brown had long said he planned on coming back to the story, but in an interview at The Comics JournalThe Comics Journal
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
in 2011, he said he would not likely finish it, as his heart was no longer in it.
Reception
The Gospel adaptations have generally been well-accepted by fans and critics. John Bell calls them Brown's most important uncollected work.To Francis Hwang of City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
, "the paradox of faith
Faith in Christianity
Faith, in Christianity, has been most commonly defined by the biblical formulation in the Letter to the Hebrews as "'the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Most of the definitions in the history of Christian theology have followed this biblical formulation...
is brilliantly, heartbreakingly depicted" in the Gospel of Matthew.
Relation to Brown's other work
ReligiousReligion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
elements have found their way into almost all of Brown's work:
- "The Twin", a story of young Jesus adapted from a story from the Gnostic text Pistis SophiaPistis SophiaPistis Sophia is an important Gnostic text, possibly written as early as the 2nd century. The five remaining copies, which scholars place in the 5th or 6th centuries, relate the Gnostic teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples , when the risen Christ had accomplished eleven...
, which appears in The Little ManThe Little Man (comics)The Little Man: Short Strips 1980-1995 is a collection of short works by award-winning Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, published by Drawn and Quarterly in 1998... - Various religious imagery in Ed the Happy ClownEd the Happy ClownEd the Happy Clown is the title character of an award-winning and influential comic book story by the Canadian cartoonist, Chester Brown. It is dark and surreal, and largely improvised, having started from a series of unrelated short comic stories that Brown soon went on to tie together...
, especially Jesus' quote, "If thy hand offend thee cut it off", and the character Chet's religious remorse over having sex with Josie the vampire that leads to him murdering her - his thinking about buying an issue of PlayboyPlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
while sitting in church that opens The PlayboyThe Playboy: A Comic BookThe Playboy is an autobiographical graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, dealing with the author's obsession with Playboy Playmates, his desire to keep his collection hidden, and how it affected his ability to relate to women into adulthood.... - his battles with his mother over wearing his Sunday clothesSunday BestSunday best or Sunday Best can mean:* Sunday best clothes, traditionally reserved for wearing to church on Sundays* Sunday Best * Sunday Best...
in I Never Liked YouI Never Liked YouI Never Liked You is an autobiographical graphic novel by Chester Brown, dealing with Brown's introversion and difficulty talking to others, especially members of the opposite sex.... - Louis RielLouis RielLouis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....
's talking with GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
in the graphic novelGraphic novelA graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
of the same nameLouis Riel: A Comic-Strip BiographyLouis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography is a highly acclaimed comic book biography of the Métis rebel leader, Louis Riel, by Chester Brown and published by Drawn and Quarterly...
.
See also
- Alternative comicsAlternative comicsAlternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
- The Book of GenesisThe Book of Genesis (comics)The Book of Genesis is a best-sellingcomic book illustrated by cartoonist and comic book artist Robert Crumb that purports to be a faithful, literal illustration of the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible...
by Robert CrumbRobert CrumbRobert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded... - Unfinished workUnfinished workAn unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...