Job
Subtitle: where shall wisdom be found?
By: Katharine J. Dell
Series: Phoenix guides to the Old Testament -- 14; Phoenix guides to the Old Testament -- 14.
Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Sheffield
Language: eng
Number of pages: 111
ISBN-13: 9781907534522
Subjects: Criticism, interpretation; Bible; Wisdom in the Bible
Description: In the light of dramatic new hermeneutical approaches to the Bible that have characterized the last couple of decades, this guide to Job follows both literary and readerly approaches to the book that acknowledge the traditional historical questions but find others yet more pressing for our time. Job is a work of great literature that has engaged readers, scholars, sceptics and believers for many centuries. This guide reflects that diversity in its rounded picture of exciting new work that is taking place in the present-day readerly arena. Each chapter contains a 'key text' that highlights a particular section of the text of Job that serves as a focus for a topic of current concern. A special emphasis and interest of Katharine Dell is the matter of genre. She shows how problematic the term 'wisdom' is for this unique book, and argues that its radical sentiments earn it, rather, the title of 'parody'. Of all the biblical books it comes closest to tragedy, raising profound questions about its nature and place in the biblical canon. Job's relationship to its ancient Near Eastern counterparts, notably in ancient Mesopotamia, are also closely examined and key theological themes that characterize the book are explored. Finally different readerly approaches-feminist, liberationist, ecological and psychological-are pursued that illuminate and inform our own personal readings and generate ever fresh understandings of this enigmatic text.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Commentaries on the Book of Job; title: Chapter 1. Introduction; title: Chapter 2. Job as a Wisdom book; title: Chapter 3. Job as parody; title: Chapter 4. Job in the context of the Ancient Near Eastern world; title: Chapter 5. Theological issues raiesed by the Book of Job; title: Chapter 6. "Reading" Job in a postmodern world.