Irony in the Divine Response to Job
By (author) Scott Xu
The interrogation by Scott Xu of the ironic motifs in the divine response to Job offers a new understanding of the Book of Job’s questions surrounding suffering. Xu offers a thorough investigation and analysis of the different levels and aspects of irony in Job particularly in the closing chapters (Job 38-42). The use of irony Xu proposes is designed to respond to the key issue in Job that has plagued readers and scholars over the ages namely that of innocent suffering.
Prior to this monograph there has been no in-depth study of irony beyond at a verbal level; nor had the book’s theological concerns-in relation to irony-been sufficiently addressed. Nearly a century of Joban scholarship on irony demonstrates a growing literary appreciation of the book of Job but leaves much to be desired such as methodological uniformity. A survey of previous studies on irony in the book of Job is conducted and critical gaps are identified. A sophisticated framework of irony is established and then applied to the divine speeches and the Epilogue.
The result of this analysis is the discovery that the Book of Job can be understood as suggesting that an innocent sufferer can have a positive understanding of their suffering as well as of their relation with the divine. Fundamental to this interpretation is the revelation of a God who responds to the issue of innocent suffering in ingenious ways whose pride cannot be threatened but who nevertheless identifies with the human situation and is even capable of self-irony. In conclusion the completed interpretive lens that is offered enables the reader to see irony itself as the divine response to the issue of innocent suffering.
- By (author) Scott Xu
Similar Books
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Die Jüngerinnen und Jünger im Thomasevangelium
Ein narratologisch inspirierter Zugang zum Text als Einheit
Parola di Dio, di uomo e di Re
L'assoluta verità della Bibbia nella dottrina cattolica di Bacchisio Raimondo Motzo
Übergemeindliche Verbindungen in den Briefen der paulinischen Mission
Vorkommen, Bedeutung, Funktion und Plausibilität
Wie JHWH spricht
Die temporelle Steuerung von Verbalaussagen in den Reden nach den Gottesspruchformeln
Breaking New Ground in John
Imagery, Parables, Characters, Christology, and Ethics in the Fourth Gospel
Volume 531
But the Wise Shall Understand
Reuse of Prophecies, Chronotope, and Merging of Eschatological Horizons in Daniel 10-12
Creation Concepts and Creation Care
Perspectives from Early Judaism, Early Christianity, and Beyond. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics XVII
De-colonising the Biblical Narrative. Volume 4
The Colonial Worldview of the Book of Joshua
Volume 4
Paul and Sacrifice in Corinth
Rethinking Paul's Views on Gentile Cults in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
Volume 623
