The following is a selected bibliography for studies in The Book of Job:
Carstensen, Roger N. Job: Defense of Honor. New York: Abingdon Press, 1963.
Crook, Margaret B. The Cruel God: Job's Search for the Meaning of Suffering. Boston: Beacon Press, 1959.
Hone, Ralph E., ed. The Voice out of the Whirlwind: The Book of Job. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company, Inc., 1960.
Goodheart, Eugene. "Job and the Modern World." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Gray, G. Buchanan. "The Purpose and Method of the Writer." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Kaufmann, U. Milo. "Expostulation with the Divine: A Note on Contrasting Attitudes in Greek and Hebrew Piety." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Kissane, Edward J. "The Metrical Structure of Job." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Murphy, Roland Edmund, ed. Proclamation Commentaries: The Psalms, Job. Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1971.
Murray, Gilbert. "Prometheus and Job." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Raphael, D. D. "Tragedy and Religion." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Rowley, H. H., ed. The Century Bible: Job. Great Britain: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1970.
Sanders, Paul S. Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Sewall, Richard B. "The Book of Job." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Toynbee, Arnold J. "Challenge and Response: The Mythological Clue." Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. ed. Paul Sanders. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Terrien, Samuel. Job: Poet of Existence. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1957.THE EXAM QUESTIONS:
Two factual questions:
Q. What challenge does Satan propose to God?
A. Satan challenges God to allow him (Satan) to test Job's faith by taking away everything Job has, believing that suffering will turn man from God.
Q. In keeping with the theme of our class, name two joys and two sufferings in The Book of Job
A. Some examples of joys: family, prosperity, faith, communion with God
Some examples of sufferings: loss of family, loss of prosperity, perceived loss of communion with God
Three essay questions:
Q. What doctrine is espoused by Job's friends, and why do we know that this doctrine does not work to explain Job's suffering?
A. Job's friends argue from the doctrine of detribution: only the blameless are rewarded with prosperity, only the evil are punished with suffering. However, this doctrine does not apply to the case of Job, as both God and Job himself recognizes Job as an "upright and blameless man." Job's suffering is beyond such a trivializing doctrine, and Job himself believes that his friends are arrogant in claiming to have an absolute understanding of God's purposes.
Q. What, according to this paper, is the true message of this book, and how is this illustrated by Job's finding the remedy for his suffering?
A. Job's constant desire in the book is for God's presence with him in his suffering. When God speaks to Job from the whirlwind, Job sees that God IS with him. Job's submission to the mysteries of God at the end of the book illustrates that Job understands and accepts God's presence with him as the remedy for his suffering. The purpose of the book is to show that man can find a remedy in his suffering in a fellowship with God.
Q. Why is it difficult, especially for us in the modern world, to accept this message in The Book of Job
A. Some examples: the restriction of mystery by the insistence upon methodical, scientific examinations; the inability to recognize mystery in the white noise of the secular world; for us, mystery tends to be equated with the unresolved; etc.
Killing Time: good ways to procrastinate; links to films, music, comic books, and contemporary essays on the bizarre state of the world today
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