The Book of "Job"

November 15, 2013

One does not usually think of reading a biography of a book. However, this series tells the story of how iconic religious works have been read and interpreted over time. In this case, readers may well be surprised by the widely divergent ways the biblical Book of Job has been understood. Larrimore (religious studies, Eugene Lang Coll., New Sch. for Liberal Arts; editor, The Problem of Evil: A Reader) discusses the tracing of the character of Job himself and interpretations of the biblical text. He references the Babylonian Talmud, Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, John Calvin, Immanuel Kant, William Blake, and Elie Wiesel, among others, showing that the Book of Job has been used not only by those from Christian and Jewish traditions but also, as with Voltaire, by those who reject theism. Larrimore also demonstrates how the book has been depicted in a variety of formats, including liturgy, visual art, and performing art; he provides a small number of helpful illustrations. VERDICT This is an excellent resource for those interested in digging deeper into biblical sources, the Book of Job itself, or the history of biblical interpretation.--John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib.

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