Book Review: Redefining Job and the Conundrum of Suffering by Victoria Adams, David von Schlichten (Foreword)
This book is a must-read that presents a unique perspective on human suffering that is simultaneously broad based and finely focused. Victoria Adams addresses head on the extensive amount of undeserved suffering in our own time by bringing to life multiple points of wisdom from disparate cultures, religions, and eras. After exploring different theories about whether Job was an actual person, which era the events are set in, who the author is, and when the story was written, Adams applies historical scholarship to determining the influences on the author and why the book of Job was written in the first place.
Be prepared for a rigorous and delightful scholarly journey powered by luminaries from the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths, as well as non-Abrahamic perspectives from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism, plus analyses from ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian sources. The similarities of perception over the ages, as well as the fundamental disagreements among great minds, make for a fascinating read, especially about a topic as otherwise depressing as the story of Job. From that Adams presents clear eyed optimism.
In our own age when we face a combined threat of pandemic, economic insecurity, cruel oppression of disfavored peoples, and cultural upheaval, grappling with the dilemma of undeserved suffering is directly relevant to everyone’s experience. In this book, Adams illustrates how the book of Job delivers a profound rebuke to blame-the-victim ideology—and comfort for those who are suffering.
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