Did Job Live "Happily Ever After"?: Suspicion and Naivety in Job 42:7–17
The book of Job apparently ends happily ever after, with the restoration of the protagonist’s family and fortune (42:7-17). Juxtaposed with the rest of the book, however, this epilogue may appear incongruent and deeply problematic. In light of that, this article argues that a double reading is warra...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
Journal of theological interpretation
Year: 2023, Volume: 17, Issue: 1, Pages: 77-91 |
| Further subjects: | B
"happy ending"
B Occupation B Ricœur B "frame narration" B Suspicion B epilogue B Hermeneutics B "Job 42" B "second naivety" B Ambiguity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The book of Job apparently ends happily ever after, with the restoration of the protagonist’s family and fortune (42:7-17). Juxtaposed with the rest of the book, however, this epilogue may appear incongruent and deeply problematic. In light of that, this article argues that a double reading is warranted. On the one hand, the epilogue may be read with a hermeneutic of suspicion, which resists superficial worldviews and protests against injustice. This reading will unmask troubling features in the representation of Job’s God, Job’s restoration, and Job’s speech. On the other hand, though—and drawing on Paul Ricœur—the text can be approached with "second naivety." The audience is thereby welcomed to inhabit the symbolic wholeness of the textual world. The text invites both these readings and does not adjudicate between them. By holding them in dialectic tension, both hermeneutics and theology are enriched. |
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| ISSN: | 2576-7933 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of theological interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5325/jtheointe.17.1.0077 |