I just ran across a book about the Book of Job by Michael Austin called Rereading Job: Understanding the Ancient
World’s Greatest Poem from Kofford Books.
There’s a 30-page preview here
and it was just enough to give me a sense of better ways to think about the
story of Job.
When I read the preview, I found myself nodding to myself, Yes, I’ve noticed that. Yes, I’ve noticed that too! In short, if you’ve ever read the Book
of Job all the way through and have wondered about all that philosophical
debate that goes on between Job and his friends, you’ll get some very useful
perspective from this preview.
Just to give you a hint, Austin notes that Job is like a
reading of the Disney story of Cinderella and halfway in, there is an enormous
poem in which Cinderella laments and complains about the obnoxiousness of the
patriarchy and royalty and the values that allow people to think that a prince
can be in love with a girl whose face he can’t remember or that a shoe fitting
can really help someone identify the right girl, and then there is a big debate
between her and her stepmother and stepsisters until the fairy godmother
appears and threatens to turn Cinderella into a pumpkin if she doesn’t just
chill out and marry the prince.
See?
Interesting. And
helpful. Because that stuff is in
there and we totally miss it in Sunday school because we don’t spend time
talking about the middle chapters!
I’m putting this book on my “to buy” list.
If you want to buy it, here’s the publisher’s page that haspaperback and ebook links.
Disclosure
of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this
post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I
have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade
Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
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