A nice thing about Purdue’s account of the
theology of the book of Job: it’s all in one spot: chapter 4 of his Wisdom
Literature: A Theological History (2007:77-135).
A nice thing about Goldingay’s account of the
theology of the book of Job: Goldingay takes far more risks in his exposition.
You almost feel as battered by the end of it as Job did at the end of his ordeal.
That I consider to be Goldingay’s finest achievement.
Purdue’s take on the theology of the book
depends on regarding the prose framework and the poetic dialogues of the book
to be in irreconcilable conflict. He also brackets out Job 28 and the Elihu
speeches in the main line of his interpretation and treats them as extraneous
blocs. These conclusions are not unusual among modern interpreters. But they
pose a problem for those of us who would rather read the book as is, a
tension-ridden, conflicted whole in which prologue and epilogue and chapters 28
and 32-37 complicate the sense of the core dialogues and “emplot” them in an
immensely productive way.
Finally, Purdue’s reading pivots on
idiosyncratic interpretations of two key verses: 40:4 and 42:6. Purdue’s
re-understanding of Job’s response to God’s speeches, though not without
precedent in modern scholarship, flies in the face of the book’s history of
interpretation, and cannot be found in any modern translations, even as
alternate readings.
Job 40:4a:
הֵן
קַלֹּתִי
מָה
אֲשִׁיבֶךָּ
Since
I am held in contempt by you,
[what can I reply?]
(Purdue’s
translation [122])
Look,
I rate very low,
how can I answer you?
(my translation; cf. NJPSV; NRSV; REB; and NAB)
Job 42:6:
עַל־כֵּן אֶמְאַס וְנִחַמְתִּי
עַל־עָפָר וָאֵפֶר
I protest, but feel sorry for dust and ashes.
(Purdue’s translation [125])
Given
the above I recant and relent
in dust and ashes.
(I follow MT’s subdivision; cf. NJPSV in the first stich and
most others in the second)
The construals Purdue adopts deserve discussion. I will not offer it here. My point: Purdue’s global
construal of the theology of the book of Job, which depends on the notion that
Job “remains defiant” to the end, that he “feels sorrow for human beings (i.e.,
‘dust and ashes’), a compassion absent from the nature of God,” for “It is
Yahweh who has been guilty, not the mortal Job . . . the voice from the whirlwind
has been condemned by his own words” (126), stands or falls with his understanding
of the verses noted.
Conversely, if the consensus interpretation
of the relevant verses is adhered to - the translations above are in accord
with that consensus - Purdue’s global construal must be jettisoned.
It’s another story with Goldingay’s Old
Testament Theology. It is a nuisance that one must hunt around in order to
discover that Goldingay’s global construal is found in 2:618-630, with
insightful exposition elsewhere, for example: ends and means of Yhwh’s lordship;
Yhwh’s freedom (2:80-82); Behemoth and Leviathan (2:719-724); the book as anti-theodicy;
suffering as a test (3:682-683; 684). But it’s worth the hunt.
Goldingay’s construal of the theological
contents of the book of Job does not depend on a particular reconstruction of
the history of the religion of Israel, a contextualization of the book in a
specific time and place, or a reconstruction of a form of the book, in macro
and micro-detail, at variance with the version that has come down to us in the
Masoretic Text. That, I think, is an advantage. Regardless, the strength of
Goldingay’s interpretation lies in its gentle fearlessness. Examples:
Terrible
calamities fall upon people, and sometimes ... on children just because of who
their parents are. . . . The Job story … make[s] God fairly directly
responsible for [a set of such events], and thus takes a brave stance about
God’s sovereignty. And God is indeed sometimes directly sovereign in this way. (2:81)
Goldingay did not have to append the last
sentence. But he did.
[Job] knows
that God loathes theological statements that are designed to honor God but fail
to do so (for instance, because we are really concerned to protect statements
that make us feel more comfortable even if they do not face facts). . . . [Job]
sees himself as involved in a trial between himself and God, and [Job’s
friends] are bearing false witness, for reasons that lie inside themselves.
“Job is demanding that theological language be held to the same strict
standards of truth required of participants in a trial” [Carol Newsom, “The
Book of Job,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996)
4:317-637; 433]. He believes God will not tolerate false witness, even
though superficially glorified by it. He will prove to be right. (2:120)
Goldingay seeks to hold himself to these
standards in his Old Testament Theology.
Suffering
brings out whether we will try to maintain our silence or turn our back on God
rather than batter on God’s chest (Job 3-27). . . . It brings out whether we
can live with ignorance or insist on being the center of the universe … (Job
38-41). . . . Being made weak issues in
openness to Yhwh’s teaching.
(3:684-685).
Job
demonstrates that theodicy is a pointless exercise . . . His book is an
exercise in anti-theodicy. Antitheodic statements do not “justify, explain,
ascribe positive meaning, account for, resolve, understand, accept, or
theologically rectify the presence of evil in human affairs.” Rather “they
express anger, hurt, confusion” and “do not try to silence suffering people” [Zachary Braitman, (God) After Auschwitz
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998) 37]. . . . Carol A. Newsom comments that “the
proper response to such a book . . . is to inject oneself into the
conversation, but with the awareness that the final word can never be spoken” [idem,
The Book of Job (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) 21, 30]. [3:682-683]
No, you cannot understand what is going on, says Yhwh
near the end of the book. And I am not going to tell you. You have to live
without knowing. [2:628]
Bibliography
John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology. Volume
One: Israel’s Gospel (Downers Grove: IVP Academic; London: Paternoster,
2003); idem, Old Testament Theology. Volume Two: Israel’s Faith (Downers
Grove: IVP Academic; London: Paternoster, 2006); idem, Old Testament
Theology. Volume Three: Israel’s Life (Downers Grove: IVP Academic; London:
Paternoster, 2009); Leo Purdue, Wisdom Literature: A Theological History
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007)
Comments