The Hermeneutics of the 'Happy' Ending in Job 42:7-17

The hermeneutics employed in this work is partly referred to as hindsight hermeneutics, and upholds the resonance and dissonance between the Epilogue of the Book of Job and the preceding sections. Within the Theophany-epilogue continuum, rebuke and approval, retribution and its suspension, divine transcendence and accessibility are all held together. The dramatically discordant traditions in the preceding section are not interpreted as competing alternatives but as complementary possibilities for understanding the nature of the divine-human relationship and responding to the threat and reality of chaos and suffering.

Autorentext

Revised Ph.D. dissertation under the supervision of Professor C. L. Seow, at Princeton Theological Seminary, N. J. in 2004. Kenneth Numfor Ngwa is now visiting Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana/USA.

Zusammenfassung

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

BZAW welcomes submissions that make an original and significant contribution to the field; demonstrate sophisticatedengagement with the relevant secondary literature; and are written in readable, logical, and engaging prose.

Inhalt

Chapter One: Text and Textual Analysis

Chapter Two: Selected History of Interpretation

The Versions (particularly LXX and 11QtgJob) · Rabbinic and Patristic Interpretation · Medieval Jewish and Christian Interpretation · Later medieval Interpretations · Modern Historical-Critical Analysis

Chapter Three: Revisiting the Epilogue

Proposed Hermeneutic · Interpreting the Epilogue

Chapter Four: Theological Reflections

Re-posing the Problem of Job · Defining the Restoration in the Epilogue · Theological Resource for interpreting the Epilogue · Proposed meanings of the Epilogue