The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imaginations [Paperback]

In this brilliant new study, Carol Newsom illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book of Job and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings.From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between Job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of the divine speeches, this book provides an intense encounter with the aesthetic resources of Hebrew verbal art. In this brilliant new study, Carol Newsom illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book of Job; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings.Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. She has written and edited several books, and is co-editor of The Oxford Annotated Bible . This book offers an insightful reading of Job and conceptually advances the understanding of modes of expression of Iraelite religious thought. --Old Testament Abstracts

This approach results in a extraordinary reading of Job, both methodologically and substantively. Newsom does not pretend to resolve all the interpretive cruxes, but to put the conversation on a firm footing, and she succeeds admirably.... readers who engage Job under her guidance will find themselves grappling indirectly with its moral and even its pastoral implications. This is the kind of interpretation that gets to the heart of the matter and makes a real difference--criticism in the best sense of the word. --Anglican Theollƒ5