From 25b2564b516ace211a3849418e887676b6554c97 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Matěj Cepl Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2015 12:18:55 +0200 Subject: Two more posts added. --- _posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst | 235 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 235 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst (limited to '_posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst') diff --git a/_posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst b/_posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51210bd --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/dan-drapal-on-job-review_en.rst @@ -0,0 +1,235 @@ +title: On „Spor o Joba“ (Dispute about Job) +tags: +categories: + - faith + - review + - english + - job + - inerrancy + - historicity +date: 2015-07-06T12:11:00 +--- + +I have just finished reading of the book by Dan Drápal „`Spor +o Joba`_“ (Návrat domů, 2015; “Dispute about Job”) and I am +rather unsure about it. + +.. _`Spor o Joba`: + http://www.databazeknih.cz/knihy/spor-o-joba-251107 + +Firstly from purely formal reasons. To say it bluntly: the book +is in my opinion longer than it deserves. The really important +part is the first one (44 pages). When I was reading it, I felt +constantly an intense feeling that this was exactly the book +I would love to write myself, but I have never overcame my +laziness and incompetence to do it. Then however, there is also +the second part (37 pages), which is just more or less (more less +than more) commented annotated reading notes on many books +related to the book of Job. The third part is a comprehensive (7 +densely printed pages) bibliography. + +I understand that publishing of books especially in the small +volume is quite challenging activity financially, so I do not +suspect pecuniary motives on the side of the author. I would +guess that it is more a wish (more and more problematic in the +time of Kindle, Internet, and similar tools) to have his thoughts +immortalized on pieces of dead trees. Let me just note that the +result does not look to me sensible neither from the +environmental nor economical point of view (on the side of +a buyer; 44 pages for 130 CZK or how much the book costs is quite +drastic amount). I would welcome much more than this patchwork +(half-page paragraphs typeset on separate pages with almost every +third page blank; is it really necessary?) if the author +published a collection of his most timeless blogposts (including +the part of this book), that could in my opinion in total make +a way more valuable book and less pity for the sacrificed trees. + +So, fortunately now we can leave behind the only really negative +part of this review and we can deal with something which I see as +the real contribution of this book. First of all let me deal +briefly with a second part of the book, which seems to me +relevant for the rest of my thoughts, which is the consideration +of historicity of the Book of Job. I hope, the author would agree +with me, that The Holy Bible constitutes whole library of works +by various human authors and various literary styles (that +shouldn't deny the inspiration of the Bible, and I would like to +leave that issue outside of this review). We have in the Bible +historical books (however the concept was understood in the time +of their writing, e.g., The Books of Chronicles), spiritual +poetry or a prayer book (Psalms), prophecies, wisdom literature +(Proverbs, Ecclesiastes), shockingly open erotic poem (Song of +Songs). So, it makes sense to ask for the literary form of the +Book of Job. It seems to me obvious that it is not (prima facie) +historical writing, or prophetic or mythological one, but that it +is a rather unique(?) example of the Biblical fiction prose, in +the modern terms closest to some kind of novel or long story +centered around the deep theological / philosophical +contemplation of the human suffering (let me emphasize again, +that it says absolutely nothing to do with the issue of the level +or manner of the inspiration of the book by the Holy Spirit). If +we accept this classification and follow its consequences, we +have to get in my opinion to couple of conclusions: + +1. Whole question of the historicity of the Book of Job looses + its value. If the Book of Job is truly a novel, the question + of its historicity is roughly the same as the historicity of + Alyosha Karamazov. Yes, perhaps there are some literal + historians, who are dealing with the issue whether Alyosha + Karamazov is based on some historical person or not, but it is + completely secondary question for the literary quality of the + work and for its message. + +2. When looking at the Book of Job as a literary work, it seems + to me obvious that the key part are all discussions between + Job and his friends (and God) dealing with the main issue of + the book, question of human suffering in the world. The first + two chapters and the half of the last one are then just + a frame story giving a context to the rest. From this point of + view the whole idea of using the second chapter of the Book of + Job (meeting of God and Satan) as the explanation of the Job’s + suffering. Our author this explanation firmly rejects in the + first part of the book, but then in the second part he seems + to be playing with the ideas suggesting such explanation. + + It is actually startling how most of the interpretation issues + in our book (and I am afraid it is the true reflection of the + discussion around the Book of Job generally) centers around + this frame story and how little work is done comparatively on + the rest of the book (here I need to recommend largely + forgotten but very interesting book of Jiří Dohnal `Pastoral + Care of the Job’s Friends`_; Logos, 1992). + +3. Moreover, using of the second chapter of the Book of Job to + explain it (“it was not about the real suffering of Job, just + a bet and game between Satan and the LORD God”) seems rather + suspicious. From the Job’s point of view this bet or game + makes rather strange testimony about the God’s character (who + kills all Job’s family just to prove his point to Satan). What + such bet says about the God’s love, his respect to the value + of human life, etc.? + +.. _`Pastoral Care of the Job’s Friends`: + http://www.databazeknih.cz/knihy/pastorace-jobovych-pratel-202307 + +Here I really end with the objections to the book and I can +finally continue with what I consider to be the most important +about the book, and why I think it is a very valuable one, that +is to its first part. + +It is some time, so I am not sure exactly when it was, I saw in +TV (or read in newspapers?) interview with some Czech painter (or +was it a composer?) about his last work. Young journalist, who +obviously didn’t have much idea what to ask, and so he (or she?) +hoped to please the author by letting him talking about his work, +and so the journalist ask him what he wanted to say by the work. +The answer was rather irritated: “What do you think? If I was +able to tell it in two sentences to the newspapers, would I spent +two years struggling with the creation of it?” + +I thought about this interview when reading the first part of +our book. When we try to explain simply the Book of Job, we have +to miss the its true meaning. Do we really think, that the Holy +Ghost has nothing else to do than to inspire writing whole book +of Bible, when it would be enough to tell its message on one or +two pages of simple text? There is not a simple way in my opinion +how to avoid reading and struggling for understanding of any +Biblical book. + +Our book starts by explaining how the obvious understanding of +the issue of evil in the world leads to belief that the good God +always blesses virtuous and punishes sinners, and how this kind +of faith can get very dangerous in the moment, when it turns to +its other side and we start to believe that blessed people are +somehow more virtuous and suffering people are sinners. Authors +reminds us about the famous text of Luke 13:1-5: + + There were some present at that very time who told him about + the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their + sacrifices. // And he answered them, “Do you think that these + Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, + because they suffered in this way? // No, I tell you; but + unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. // Or those + eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do + you think that they were worse offenders than all the others + who lived in Jerusalem? // No, I tell you; but unless you + repent, you will all likewise perish.” + +Jesus here quite clearly rejects implicitly suggested theory of +“some” that the killed Galileans and eighteen killed under +the tower of Siloam somehow got what they deserved. I would even +suggest that this suggestion that blessing is the certificate of +just, is quite often tool of self-justification (rarely is such +theory promoted by somebody who just goes through “the dark night +of the soul”, but mostly by those who feels themselves blessed). +Jesus seems to me lead his listeners by the reminder of need to +repent away from this illusion of self-justification. + +The remainder of the first part of the book deals with the +various methods, who to make Job’s suffering explainable and +rationally understandable and proves that none of these ways make +any sense or in fact that they don’t give any answer to the +question of the meaning of human suffering. + +Some of the false paths mentioned by the author (and I wildly +agree with him) are thoughts that Job didn’t raise up his kids +properly, that perhaps his fear of the LORD God was just an +unhealthy fear, that perhaps the LORD God wanted to lead him to +higher perfection, that perhaps he could be an precursor of the +Lord Jesus Christ a his substitute sacrifice, or that in the end +it is a judgement over Job. It doesn’t make much sense to deal +with these reasons more in detail. First of all, the author did +himself very well, and moreover it seems to me that most of the +ideas have something common with the theories provided by Jobs +friends in the Book of Job itself. + +Let me just stop for a paragraph, that Job was a precursor of the +substitute sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This idea the +author found in the study notes of the Czech Ecumenical +translation and refused it briskly in one of its half-page +chapters closing that it is just another “ornate religious +rubbish”. Even though I generally agree, that the parallel is +rather strained and it is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible +(neither in the Book of Job itself or in the New Testament), +still I would say, that the author was a little bit too fast in +renunciation of this idea. Obviously the explaining the Book of +Job by this theory of the substitute sacrifice suffers from the +same problem as the LORD God playing gamble with Satan (see +above): nobody asked Job whether he wants to be sacrificed +(nobody even explained him that he is being sacrificed for the +larger good). On the other hand we believe that the Lord Jesus +Christ went to his death willingly and I would think that at +least with some thoughts that his death will bring salvation to +humanity. So this theory doesn’t lead to love-driven sacrifice +but it looks very much like an useless waste of human life. On +the other hand, the situation of the just human who because of +his suffering gets the power (or authority) to save by his +intercession others who violated him, seems to me legitimately +giving some possible parallels to the situation of the Lord Jesus +Christ. How does it relate to the strange sacrifices on behalf of +Job’s children from Job 1:5 I don’t know as well, but to brush +the idea in few (specifically five) sentences as rubbish seems to +me a bit hasty. + +So the result of the first part of the book is that the author +gets to the conclusion that we really don’t know (perhaps we even +cannot know?) reason, why Job suffered the experience he got +into. In the same time we can see from the whole story that Job +accepted the reply to his situation, that there was some specific +reply to be accepted, and so in the end the Book of Job leaves us +instead of simple answer with an encouragement to search for the +answer from the LORD God when we get into similarly murky +situation and that we should look for the answer in meeting with +Him. In this context I always think about Psalm 73. Psalmist +stands in it in the similar situation as Job: how come that he in +his justice and effort to achieve holiness experiences just +suffering (“For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked +every morning.”), whereas the wicked lives in comfort and peace? +Psalm actually doesn’t give unequivocal answer but suddenly in +the verses 16 and 17 he claims: “But when I thought how to +understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, // until +I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” +After this meeting with the LORD God suddenly remaining part of +the psalm changes into the hymn of praise of the God’s justice +and goodness. + +.. vim: textwidth=65 wrap: -- cgit