The biblical Book of Job may have found a place in our consciousness more than the other books of the Bible, except perhaps for the gospels (or parts of them).  The character of Job has become the archetype of the righteous sufferer, the one who unjustly is forced to endure an unbearable weight of physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma.  Job signals perennial questions: Why does God let bad things happen to good people?  If God is all-powerful and all-good, why then does God let Satan have his way with the righteous Job?  Neither Job nor we ever get an answer.  We are left in “dust and ashes” in the face of the inscrutable God, left simply to ponder the mystery of God and God’s ways.  Take him or leave him – God is God.
 
At least, that’s how we have been led to think of Job’s message. 
 
A new translation of the Book of Job by Edward Greenstein upends our traditional understanding of what Job is all about.  Perhaps neither Job nor we are left powerless in the throes of defeat, to be rewarded only when we finally succumb to God’s omniscience and might.  Perhaps we are challenged, with Job, to stand up, speak, and protest – protest not against Satan or the injustices of the world or the randomness of events, but against God.  Perhaps Job is the archetype not of the righteous sufferer, but of the one who finally has found the full force of own his voice and uses it to speak truth to power – to the ultimate power.
 
Interested?
 
Deirdre Good and Julian Sheffield will be our primary guides in a Lenten series focusing on a fresh look at the meaning of Job that emerges in this new and exciting translation.  The first session will be on Sunday, March 1, beginning at 10:45 AM.  Grab a cup of coffee and some goodies after church and join in.  We encourage you to purchase the book.  Ten copies have been ordered through Left Bank Books in town and can be purchased there for $23.32 (including tax and a 15% discount).  Scholarship funds are available by contacting me at [email protected].  Below is a link to a description of the book.
 
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300162349/job