The book of Job as anthropodicy
The subject of the Book of Job is widely thought to be theodicy, i.e. the justification of God with respect to the ubiquity of injustice in the world, especially disease and the loss of loved ones, which cannot always be blamed on the God-given freewill of humans. Many scholars, clergy, and layperso...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2008
|
| In: |
Biblische Notizen
Year: 2008, Volume: 136, Pages: 59-71 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Job
/ Suffering
/ Comfort
B Old Testament / Anthropology |
| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Debt
B Theodicy B Suffering B Job |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
|
| Summary: | The subject of the Book of Job is widely thought to be theodicy, i.e. the justification of God with respect to the ubiquity of injustice in the world, especially disease and the loss of loved ones, which cannot always be blamed on the God-given freewill of humans. Many scholars, clergy, and laypersons share the hope that were one able to decode the difficult Hebrew of the God-speeches in Job 38-41, one would, in fact, find the ultimate answer to the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This misunderstanding of the book of Job is based on the failure of generations of readers to note that the explanation of Job’s suffering is found in chapters 1- 2 while God’s vindication of Job in face of his friends’ assertion that “he had it coming to him” is found in 42:7-8 and Job’s equally bold assertion that his friends exemplify how not to behave during a visit to the sick and / or bereft. Taking these facts into consideration, one must conclude that the Book of Job is a highly sophisticated demonstration of what goes wrong when highly intelligent, educated, and well-meaning people attempt to comfort mourners in their grief and to console infirm persons in their hospital beds. The Book of Job attempts by means of highly sophisticated language to convey the weightiness of the seemingly banal message that God prefers silence to blaming the victim and invoking God in so doing. In a word, the Book of Job is anthropodicy, the justification of suffering humans in the face of their well-meaning friends or neighbors, who add insult to injury. Das Buch Hiob ist ... eine gut durchdachte Demonstration, was schief geht, wenn hoch intelligente, gut ausgebildete und wohlmeinende Freunde einen Trauernden trösten und Schwache aufrichten wollen in ihrem Leiden. Es demonstriert in anspruchsvoller Sprache einen gewichtigen, aber banal erscheinenden Sachverhalt, dass Gott Schweigen vorzieht und es ablehnt, im Opfer den Schuldigen zu sehen, der im Namen Gottes verurteilt wird. In einem Wort: das Buch Hiob spricht von Anthropodizee, handelt also von der Rechtfertigung menschlichen Leidens durch den wohlmeinenden Freund und Nächsten, der erlittenes Unrecht noch mit Kränkung mehrt. |
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| Access: | [DE-21]Open Access |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblische Notizen
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.71715/bn.v136i.98117 |