Response on the Book of Job - Term Paper Example

Response Paper on the Book of Job Evidently, the interpretive introduction by Mitchell’s was rewarding. Stephen looks at the work on literary conditions, in the setting of a like writings in other cultures and faith. Mitchell has quoted Jung Carl, suggesting that the Job is morally superior to the God in the beginning. This God is apparently plagued by insecurity. He cautions us not perceive it too seriously though, as of these pages are merely an introduction to a tale which never refers back either the controversialist or the heaven court — a court which matches that of some antediluvian King of Kings, finished with yearly meetings of a Satan and the royal council.

How about the contrast between God’s introductory picture, and the far more terrifying and resplendent one of the windstorm later on in the book? The author indicates that there are 2 dissimilar realities at work. The change from one to the other is indicated by the change to poetry from narrative (Mitchell, 1992). The introduction sketches out the ancient legend Job, a legend which was believably in existence for hundreds of years prior to the writing of this version. James speaks of this Job in the New Testament where he says, “Your ears have heard of Job’s patience.

” It has little similarity to the risking, ranting, fiercely impatient Job in the poetry. It is almost like the writer spells out a model of the ancient legend, only then to analyze it an entirely more searching and different mode of the poem, going back in the concluding chapter to the narrative which brings us back to the world. By saying the authors approach is literary, I mean that he approaches the text via a mixture of archetypal and psychoanalytical criticism. For example, he at times talks in terms of superego and ego, proposing that Job is full of anxiety at the initial parts of the book, and fear motivates his righteousness.

Likewise, different parts of the tale are seen as subjective externalized states. For instance, the accuser is seen as an incarnation of God’s doubts regarding Job. The windstorm is perceived as a “cloud of unknowing,” a sign of Job’s dismission of all he knows regarding God. In the class of myth criticism is authors’ reading of the themes and imagery in form of some other myths. For example, the explanations provided of the beast’s windstorm and the serpent, the Mitchell (1992) reads as “key figures in antediluvian near-eastern eschatology, the embodiments of evil that the sky-god battles and conquers at the end of time, just as he conquered the sea and the forces of chaos in creating the world at the beginning of time.

” Another case would be the author’s view of Job in form of an ancient legend version, just like the one that lived in Sumer nearly around 2000 BC. Under these ideas is a belief of a number of common archetypes implicit in all myths. The discussion of Job’s friends such as their fear of contact with suffering of Job, of their knowingness that the tenets they exert like a body covering protects an interior lack of any genuine depth of experience or understanding. The discussion of the ending is captivating, and of how the feminine figures so conspicuously in the form of daughters of Job.

Arguably, the most penetrating discourse relates to the sound from the windstorm, and response from Job. Mitchell paints a picture that the vision of nature gives a worldview that stands in direct confrontation with the Genesis myth where man was granted dominion over all creations. This is a God’s-eye perspective of creation ahead of man, beyond evil and good, marked by the pureness of a mind which has stepped beyond the boundaries of human value. Voice means that paradise is not fixed in the future or past, and does not need a world edited or tamed by the moral sense.

This is our world, when viewed clearly, in the absence of eating the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge (Mitchell, 1992). Mitchell gives a fresh insight different from the normal worldview and spiritual framework. He argues with the text explicitly maybe because he has less of a stake in it, that is, he intends not to argue for a pre-existing insight of God. This book provides intriguing analysis which acts as an excellent contrast to other commentaries, and also a translation which scratches all the seal of the ages off this explosive and explosive poetry.

This book is confronts, explores and challenges all parts of the text which has not been covered elsewhere Reference Mitchell, S.( 1992). The BOOK OF JOB. New York: Harper Perennial. Print.