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Job of Uz

Suffering of the Righteous and the Justice of God


Job finds himself in a situation similar to one experienced by everyone at some point in his or her life. He wants answers to questions concerning what has happened to him, since he lived his life according to the traditional wisdom and rules of conduct, asking what has gone wrong and why. The Book of Job raises fundamental questions of both the actions and expectations of humans and deities, and asks whether a clear understanding can be reached between them. The contributing essays to this anthology help advance and sharpen both the questions and the responses to that question.
Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC
Availability: In stock
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-61143-420-0
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Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Sep 4,2012
Interior Color: Black
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Page Count: 228
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-61143-420-0
$140.00
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Long before the reader arrives at the Book of Job, he or she has been conditioned to view the God of Israel through a lens of a righteous deity who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Perhaps the reader has been lulled into a simplistic way of thinking about the actions of God. When arriving at the Book of Job, one encounters one of three main works that are termed Wisdom Literature by text critics. Among the questions one may be tempted to ask is whether the book is quaint or forward-looking, whether Job is deserving of all that has happened to him, whether he is just a spoiled cry-baby who refuses to accept his miserable lot in life, whether he has been betrayed by his deity in a mean-spirited debate and wager with Satan about which Job has no knowledge, and even whether his deity is to be trusted or to be suspected of divine caprice. While several of these issues are raised elsewhere in biblical literature, nowhere are they raised to such a fever pitch and with such indignant outcry. Moreover, the opinions of his so-called friends and comforters spur Job on to doubt himself less and to suspect caprice more. The Book of Job describes the human condition and raises through colloquy fundamental questions of both the actions and expectations of humans and deities, and asks whether a clear understanding can be reached between them. The contributing essays to this anthology help advance and sharpen both the questions and the responses to that question.

Cover: Job, oil on canvas, Léon Bonnat, 1880.

Long before the reader arrives at the Book of Job, he or she has been conditioned to view the God of Israel through a lens of a righteous deity who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Perhaps the reader has been lulled into a simplistic way of thinking about the actions of God. When arriving at the Book of Job, one encounters one of three main works that are termed Wisdom Literature by text critics. Among the questions one may be tempted to ask is whether the book is quaint or forward-looking, whether Job is deserving of all that has happened to him, whether he is just a spoiled cry-baby who refuses to accept his miserable lot in life, whether he has been betrayed by his deity in a mean-spirited debate and wager with Satan about which Job has no knowledge, and even whether his deity is to be trusted or to be suspected of divine caprice. While several of these issues are raised elsewhere in biblical literature, nowhere are they raised to such a fever pitch and with such indignant outcry. Moreover, the opinions of his so-called friends and comforters spur Job on to doubt himself less and to suspect caprice more. The Book of Job describes the human condition and raises through colloquy fundamental questions of both the actions and expectations of humans and deities, and asks whether a clear understanding can be reached between them. The contributing essays to this anthology help advance and sharpen both the questions and the responses to that question.

Cover: Job, oil on canvas, Léon Bonnat, 1880.

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ContributorBiography

MishaelCaspi

Dr. Mishael M. Caspi is a retired Professor of Religion at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Dr. Caspi holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. He has written extensively on Biblical Studies, Talmudic Studies, and Islamica. Dr. John T. Greene is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Dr. Greene holds a Ph.D. in Scriptural and Historical Studies from Boston University. He has written extensively on Archaeology of Bethsaida, Communication theory and Praxis, and History of Religions.

JohnGreene

John T. Greene is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. He holds the Ph.D. from Boston University, and the A.B. and Master Degrees from the University of Detroit. He has written extensively on issues of scriptural and historical studies and Middle Eastern archaeology.

  • Table of Contents (page 5)
  • Prolegomenon by Mishael M. Caspi and John T. Greene (page 7)
  • The Book of Job as Text:Deconstruction by Albert McClure (page 19)
  • Duality in the Relationship of Man-GodŽ in the Book of Job:Two Readings or Two Jobs? by Itzhak Peleg (page 47)
  • Job: The Darkness of the Curse by Mishael M. Caspi (page 65)
  • Jobs Hidden Way:Understanding Job as a Wisdom Figure in the Poetic Dialogues by Sophia Magallanes (page 93)
  • Complaint, Imprecation, Lament, and Special Pleading: How Righteous Men Manage Suffering by J. Harold Ellens (page 109)
  • On Solidary with Creation:Job, Jonah, Levinas by Theodore A. Perry (page 131)
  • Religious and Rhetorical Drama: Job in the Company of Plato, Aristophanes and Other Related Literature. BERIT Meets Rhetoric:Job in the World of Late Classical Antiquity by John T. Greene (page 145)
  • Job in English, Welsh AND Irish Literature by Anthony Swindell (page 171)
  • Futility in the Search for Job in the New Testament:The Case of Phillipipians 1:19 by Felix H. Cortez (page 201)
  • A Study of Job in Music and Image by Max Stern (page 213)
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