How can it be that good people suffer and yet God is just? For thousands of years, the profoundly moving story of Job has allowed people of faith to reflect on that question.
Among the books of the Old Testament classified as “wisdom” literature, the book of Job never loses its freshness and power. Job is a righteous man, stripped of all he holds dear, who engages in a powerful dialogue with three friends on the nature and cause of suffering. Job’s friends struggle to justify Job’s suffering and advise him on a course of action. Job counters their arguments and then turns his attention to God in a desperate plea for justice. When God’s answer comes from the whirlwind it is not what we expect.
In this commentary, Kathleen O’Connor makes the characters in the book of Job and their speeches come alive. She explores and illuminates the beliefs that undergird their perspectives, helping the reader contextualize this powerful tale. Then, O’Connor invites readers to engage with Job’s story personally and work to develop their own solution to the dilemmas faced by both Job and his friends. It is a unique approach that connects both head and heart with this powerful inquiry into suffering and God’s justice.
How can it be that good people suffer and yet God is just? For thousands of years, the profoundly moving story of Job has allowed people of faith to reflect on that question.
Among the books of the Old Testament classified as “wisdom” literature, the book of Job never loses its freshness and power. Job is a righteous man, stripped of all he holds dear, who engages in a powerful dialogue with three friends on the nature and cause of suffering. Job’s friends struggle to justify Job’s suffering and advise him on a course of action. Job counters their arguments and then turns his attention to God in a desperate plea for justice. When God’s answer comes from the whirlwind it is not what we expect.
In this commentary, Kathleen O’Connor makes the characters in the book of Job and their speeches come alive. She explores and illuminates the beliefs that undergird their perspectives, helping the reader contextualize this powerful tale. Then, O’Connor invites readers to engage with Job’s story personally and work to develop their own solution to the dilemmas faced by both Job and his friends. It is a unique approach that connects both head and heart with this powerful inquiry into suffering and God’s justice.
Kathleen M. O'Connor is author of several books including The Wisdom Literature (Liturgical Press, 1990), Jeremiah: Pain and Promise, and Lamentations and the Tears of the World. She is the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, emerita, at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, and also taught at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Ossining, New York. She is active in the Catholic Biblical Association of America and the Society of Biblical Literature.
Capturing the power and mystique of the book of Job, Kathleen
O'Connor eloquently takes us into the world of pain, suffering,
beauty, and wonder that human beings experience in the midst of the
human condition. O'Connor unpacks the complicated lives of the
text's characters, their relationships with each other and their
theologies, while inviting her readers into the mystery of God.
Through her study, O'Connor brilliantly shows us how pain,
suffering, and struggle can transform us, opening us up to our
oneness with all life and the creativity and fecundity of God.Carol
J. Dempsey, OP, Professor of Theology (Biblical Studies),
University of Portland
O’Connor turns her deep spirituality and incisive language to the
host of unsolvable but stimulating and absorbing issues of the Book
of Job, deftly helping readers to engage the profound mystery of
this biblical book.Barbara Greene, OP, Professor of Biblical
Studies, Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley
Job is among the most intriguing books of the Bible, dealing with
issues that every believer faces. Kathleen O’Connor guides readers
through Job with theological insight born of her faith and
experience.Leslie J. Hoppe, OFM, Professor of Old Testament
Studies, Catholic Theological Union
Kathleen O’Connor has captured the pathos of Job’s dilemma as she
treats the passionate poetry of the book with insight and
sensitivity. She carefully sketches Job’s encounter with God which
takes place at the intersection of Job’s own experience of chaos
and God’s revelation of an ordered universe. Pointing out the depth
of meaning found in this biblical book, she provides various ways
it might be understood and appreciated by the reader.Dianne
Bergant, CSA, Professor of Old Testament Studies, Catholic
Theological Union
In this volume the Old Testament biblical scholar Kathleen O’Connor
synthesizes and condenses a plethora of scholarship, including her
own former publications, on the biblical book of Job. She brings
together insights that lay bare the richness and complexity of the
book. She does not run away from Job’s pain or the rigidity and
insensitivity of his friends but neither does she let God off the
hook. She allows a difficult Hebrew text to speak in its own time
and also in our time. Readers will acquire a greater understanding
of this biblical classic even as not all of their questions are
answered.Alice L. Laffey, Professor of Old Testament, Department of
Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Kathleen O’Connor has produced a beautiful guide to Job’s pain and
plea for justice. O’Connor gracefully leads readers through the
book of Job’s presentation of his suffering along with the various
responses to his condition offered by the other characters. Even
with the appearance of God in the whirlwind, the book’s ending
provides no easy answer; God is present yet in an unfamiliar way.
O’Connor’s moving presentation will draw readers into Job’s
experience and provide them with a deep, thoughtful resource for
reflecting on their own questions of suffering and justice. Clear
and accessible, O’Connor’s work on Job is inspiring. A wonderful
achievement.Mark S. Smith, Professor of Bible and Ancient Near
Eastern Studies, New York University
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
