Exegetical Analysis Of The Book Of Job
The Bible, from its inception, has already been translated into many languages and is being interpreted in an increasing number of ways, some of which interpretations are contradictory and some are complementary. But which method is most appropriate is a hot debate in Christianity today.
This paper is an exegesis study that analyses the celebrated book of Job from the Old Testament, which historical account, or perhaps moral folktale, is set in the period of the Patriarchs around the time of Abraham that makes it one of the oldest books of the Bible. The Book of Job, which is named after the main character of the text, questions the justice of a God who was expected to offer protection in return for loyalty. It addresses the important …show more content…
Selecting the feminist method seemed most appropriate given the story most unfairly ignores Job’s wife who was with him thoughout his troubles. However, the second method of exgesis came down to a choice between historical-critical, narrative criticism and the Catholic interpretation. I opted for the latter since it is open to the use of a variety interpretation techniques and would thus, I reasoned, make for a more comprehensive analysis.
Feminist interpretation of the Bible is important in terms of women's rights and equality of the sexes, whereby women should be treated as intellectual and social equals to men. However, the concept of feminism was unheard of when the Bible was written. Indeed, Jesus selected only men for the role of apostle, presumably influenced by the social custom of his day, an example sometimes cited as the rationale for excluding women from leadership positions in the church today. The Bible and its texts are clearly male centered, and reflect a view in which males are dominant. Until recent years, the only voices that were heard when describing the experiences of biblical personalities, including women, were the voices of men. Passages about women were interpreted from the male perspectives. Thus, feminist biblical interpretation asks questions such …show more content…
Catholic exegesis freely makes use of scientific methods and all approaches that allow a better understanding of the meaning of texts in their literary, socio-cultural, religious and historical contexts. In addition to a broad interpretation, I favour Catholic exegesis as it is carried out in a manner which is as critical and objective as possible and actively contributes to the development of new methods of exegesis. Also, Catholic exegesis requires that interpretation of a biblical text be consistent with the meaning intended by the authors, placing biblical texts in their ancient contexts, thus helping to clarify the meaning of the biblical authors' message for their original readers and for us too. And although Catholic exegesis employs a historical method, it is not historicist or positivis and is open to a variety of methods and approaches. As mentioned above, although the historical-critical method retains its primacy, the Catholic Church maintains that literary methods and approaches based on tradition, the social sciences, or particular contemporary contexts can also yield important insights into the meaning of the biblical word. However, as a relative newcomer to the methods of exegesis, Catholic exegesis is not immune to the “presuppositional problem” where in this instance presupposing means that the Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought and the Bible is interpreted in the light of God's revelation.
This paper is an exegesis study that analyses the celebrated book of Job from the Old Testament, which historical account, or perhaps moral folktale, is set in the period of the Patriarchs around the time of Abraham that makes it one of the oldest books of the Bible. The Book of Job, which is named after the main character of the text, questions the justice of a God who was expected to offer protection in return for loyalty. It addresses the important …show more content…
Selecting the feminist method seemed most appropriate given the story most unfairly ignores Job’s wife who was with him thoughout his troubles. However, the second method of exgesis came down to a choice between historical-critical, narrative criticism and the Catholic interpretation. I opted for the latter since it is open to the use of a variety interpretation techniques and would thus, I reasoned, make for a more comprehensive analysis.
Feminist interpretation of the Bible is important in terms of women's rights and equality of the sexes, whereby women should be treated as intellectual and social equals to men. However, the concept of feminism was unheard of when the Bible was written. Indeed, Jesus selected only men for the role of apostle, presumably influenced by the social custom of his day, an example sometimes cited as the rationale for excluding women from leadership positions in the church today. The Bible and its texts are clearly male centered, and reflect a view in which males are dominant. Until recent years, the only voices that were heard when describing the experiences of biblical personalities, including women, were the voices of men. Passages about women were interpreted from the male perspectives. Thus, feminist biblical interpretation asks questions such …show more content…
Catholic exegesis freely makes use of scientific methods and all approaches that allow a better understanding of the meaning of texts in their literary, socio-cultural, religious and historical contexts. In addition to a broad interpretation, I favour Catholic exegesis as it is carried out in a manner which is as critical and objective as possible and actively contributes to the development of new methods of exegesis. Also, Catholic exegesis requires that interpretation of a biblical text be consistent with the meaning intended by the authors, placing biblical texts in their ancient contexts, thus helping to clarify the meaning of the biblical authors' message for their original readers and for us too. And although Catholic exegesis employs a historical method, it is not historicist or positivis and is open to a variety of methods and approaches. As mentioned above, although the historical-critical method retains its primacy, the Catholic Church maintains that literary methods and approaches based on tradition, the social sciences, or particular contemporary contexts can also yield important insights into the meaning of the biblical word. However, as a relative newcomer to the methods of exegesis, Catholic exegesis is not immune to the “presuppositional problem” where in this instance presupposing means that the Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought and the Bible is interpreted in the light of God's revelation.