Job, Transitional Space, and the Ruthless Use of the Object

2010

This dissertation investigates the tension between the two portrayals of Job in the current form of the biblical book of Job in light of narrative literary theory (ch. 1). It supports the current consensus that the two portraits of Job are best understood as belonging to two separate accounts about Job—one written primarily in prose and serving as a literary frame and the other written primarily in poetry—and confirms that the appropriate division between the two accounts is between 2:10 and 11 and between 42:9 and 10, thereby giving each account a complete literary plot structure (ch. 2). This dissertation then advances current scholarship by examining each account in isolation in order to identify its unique characterization and plot elements and by showing how many texts that appear to conflict with each other are actually consistent within their own accounts (chs. 3, 4). A close reading of texts that appear near the seams between the two accounts highlights the thematic, verbal, and characterization links that connect 2:8 with the beginning of the poetic account and 2:10 with the end of the poetic account. This dissertation then applies the insights and terminology of the Russian Formalist school of literary criticism to the book of Job in order to propose that the most coherent reading of Job emerges when the two accounts are read non-sequentially—that is, when entire poetic account is understood to overlap with 2:8-10 in the prose account (ch. 5). The proposed, overlapping reading of Job succeeds both in accounting for conflicts between the prose account—where Job responds to his calamities with instant and extraordinary piety—and the poetic account—where Job’s eventual pious response comes only after prolonged bitterness, accusations, and discontentment—and in explaining the overarching coherence of the combined accounts, which may now be understood to provide a unified perspective on the Principle of Retribution, on the Satan, on God, and on Job. Together, the two accounts reveal all that transpired to bring about Job’s transformation from bitter sorrow in 2:8 to remarkable submission to God in 2:10.

1996

The present study is concerned with literary, theological, and linguistic aspects of the book of Job, and its place in biblical and ancient Near Eastern literature. It developed from my examination of the unique features of these aspects of the book of Job and the attempt to ...

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY, 2023

Using poststructural criticism, we explore how the book of Job deconstructs the deed/consequence nexus that stands at the core of the Hebrew Bible’s theological framework – i.e. the doctrine of reward and punishment. Building on both Derridean deconstruction and Foucauldian resistance, we show that the book of Job refuses to comply with the opposite binary of reward and punishment. First, we demonstrate how the friends in their speeches enforce the binary and, thereby, exercise power over Job. Secondly, we consider Job’s resistance and deconstruction of this binary through both his lived experience and desire to argue with God. Finally, we argue how Job’s desire to argue with God challenges God to defend themself in court. In God’s answer, however, one is introduced to a different God than as portrayed by Job’s friends. Moreover, God’s boastful reply, which lacks any justification for Job’s suffering, makes God appear fragile and weak. As such, this article argues that the book of Job may not merely deconstruct dominant ideology, but also God itself.

The Journal of Theological Studies, 2022

God’s speeches in Job 38–41 have been criticized by some for their arrogant tone and celebrated by others for their non-anthropocentric worldview. While these interpretations address important features of the text, they are too simple. Rather than having a non-anthropocentric perspective, God hides his fascination with Job in order to raise him to a new level of selflessness. Similarly, rather than simply being arrogant, God hides his care for Job, which also serves a pedagogical purpose. God wants Job to experience a completely unselfish fear of his maker that does not expect anything in exchange, not even God’s loving attention. While readers reflect on Job’s response, they also reflect on their own: are they willing to fear God for nothing in return?

Journal of Biblical Literature, 2013

Corporeal metaphors are central to the theology of the book of Job, especially in relation to the themes of divine power and human dignity. Job's body is the testing ground of the śāṭ ān's hypothesis about Job's self-interested piety and the compass point from which Job narrates his place in the world. Job's experience leads him to describe his body as disintegrated and dishonored. He imagines God as a warrior who brutalizes him with an outstretched arm, a powerful hand, and a sharp eye. The divine speeches, however, offer Job a new orientation to his body and the cosmos through the bodies of animals. While the powerful beasts and monsters that populate God's creation are reined in and kept in their proper places, God also cares for them and celebrates them as glorious and proud. This is a universe in which the wild and chaotic are restrained without being shamed. In light of this vision, Job recants his earlier view about the insignificance and shame of his body and confesses that God governs the world according to an order that is quite different from the one he had imagined.

Pharos Journal of Theology, 2022

It is suggested that in the face of malevolence, such as that faced by Job, God’s omnipotence and also His benevolence can be upheld. This article thus explores the notions of human suffering, theodicy and theocracy and how they are understood in the book of Job from an Old Testament perspective. The exegesis of the Book of Job has vexed people for epochs and it grasps the depths of human despair, the anger of moral outrage, and the anguish of a felt desertion by God on the part of the protagonist. From one man’s agony it reaches out to the mystery of God, beyond all words and explanations. The Scriptures including the book of Job has several distinct ways of reconciling human suffering with the justice of God. In the end, it is only God as King and Ruler, Himself who brings justice, victory and joy to the life of the suffering man. And when all is said and done, the mystery remains that God stands as King and Ruler revealed in His hiddenness, an object of terror, adoration and love...

Dialog, 2011

Vetus Testamentum 46 (1996): 85–100