The Book of Job: A Contest Moral Imaginations

In this brilliant new study, Carol Newsom illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book of Job and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings. From the simple and beautiful language of the prose tale, to the verbal fireworks of the dialogue between Job and his friends, to the haunting beauty of the poem on wisdom and the sublime poetics of the divine speeches, this book provides an intense encounter with the aesthetic resources of Hebrew verbal art. In this brilliant new study, Carol Newsom illuminates the relation between the aesthetic forms of the book and the claims made by its various characters. Her innovative approach makes possible a new understanding of the unity of the book of Job; she rejects the dismantling of the book by historical criticism and the flattening of the text that characterizes certain final form readings.