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Princeton University Press
October 2013
On Sale: September 30, 2013
292 pages
ISBN: 0691147590
EAN: 9780691147598
Kindle: B00EZMGCEM
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Religion
The Book of Job raises stark questions about the nature and
meaning of innocent suffering and the relationship of the
human to the divine, yet it is also one of the Bible's most
obscure and paradoxical books, one that defies
interpretation even today. Mark Larrimore provides a
panoramic history of this remarkable book, traversing
centuries and traditions to examine how Job's trials and his
challenge to God have been used and understood in diverse
contexts, from commentary and liturgy to philosophy and art. Larrimore traces Job's obscure origins and his reception and
use in the Midrash, burial liturgies, and folklore, and by
figures such as Gregory the Great, Maimonides, John Calvin,
Immanuel Kant, William Blake, Margarete Susman, and Elie
Wiesel. He chronicles the many ways the Book of Job's
interpreters have linked it to other biblical texts; to
legends, allegory, and negative and positive theologies; as
well as to their own individual and collective experiences.
Larrimore revives old questions and provides illuminating
new contexts for contemporary ones. Was Job a Jew or a
gentile? Was his story history or fable? What is meant by
the "patience of Job," and does Job exhibit it? Why does God
speak yet not engage Job's questions? Offering rare insights into this iconic and enduring book,
Larrimore reveals how Job has come to be viewed as the
Bible's answer to the problem of evil and the perennial
question of why a God who supposedly loves justice permits
bad things to happen to good people.
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