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3 pages/≈825 words
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MLA
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Religion & Theology
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Essay
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Kushner’s Interpretation of the Book of Job

Essay Instructions:

Optional Extra Credit Essay on the Book of Job
In a famous book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner offers a thoughtful interpretation of the Book of Job, influenced by his own suffering (his son died young due to a hereditary disease). Kushner suggests there are three statements that every character in the Book of Job and many of its readers would like to believe: First, that God is all-powerful and causes everything that happens in the world. Second, that God is just and fair. Third, that Job is a good person. As long as Job is healthy and wealthy, he can believe all three of these statements at the same time. But when disaster strikes Job—or when it strikes any of us—he (or we) can no longer make sense of all three of these propositions together. We can only affirm any two of them by denying the third. According to Kushner, there are thus three possibilities:
1) If God is both just and omnipotent (all-powerful), then Job must be a sinner who deserves what is happening to him. This is what Job’s friends come to believe, but we readers know that is not true.
2) On the other hand, if Job is good and God is all-powerful but allows Job to suffer anyway, then God is not perfectly just. This is what Job himself comes to believe, in Kushner’s view. While Job submits to the power of God, Kushner argues it is because he has no choice. Job no longer really believes that God is good.
3) But if God is truly good and Job is also good, then God is not all-powerful. Bad things may happen to good people because God does not always have the power to prevent it. This is the radical point of view that, according to Kushner, the actual author of the Book of Job was taking and represents the true meaning of the Book of Job. Forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful or a powerful God who is not totally good, the author of the Book of Job chooses to believe in God’s goodness. This is what Kushner himself also chooses to believe, arguing that God is indeed good and compassionate, but His power has limits and He needs our help to make the world more just.
For the essay, answer this question: Do you agree with Kushner’s interpretation of the Book of Job? Why or why not? The essay should reflect careful reading of the assignment (double-spaced,12-point type).
Writing in Deep!!!
Read the Book of Job carefully!
Read the writing requirements carefully!
Do not online resource
Allow quote from the book！

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The Book of Job
Since time immemorial, the existence of God has been shrouded in mystery that no one has been able to unravel. First, the debate as to whether God does exist continues to generate heated debates the world over and has split people down the middle. The other aspect of God that continues to excite controversy is whether God is omnipotent. Again, some people believe that God is all-powerful, while others hold the contrary. Rabbi Kushner ascribes to the latter group. He takes a radical position by claiming that whereas God is good and compassionate, His powers cannot extend beyond a certain point. He intimates that that is the point the author of the book of Job wanted to relay. I differ from Kushner's interpretation of the book of Job and will outline my fundamental reasons.
God is Omnipotent
For some unknown reasons, Kushner chooses to confine himself to the book of Job in deciding whether God is omnipotent. In my view, basing an argument of such magnitude and import on one book of the Bible and disregarding 65 others leaves a lot to be desired. Further, Kushner's assertion that God requires our help to make things work is rather preposterous.
In the book of Job, God performed remarkable deeds that show beyond reasonable doubt that He is omnipotent and does not need human help in His doings. If I were to respond to Kushner, I would first refer him to chapter 37 of the book of Job. The chapter captures Job giving a categorical description of the power of God that causes his heart to pound and leap from its place. In verse 5 of the said chapter, Job intimates how God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways and how He does great things beyond our understanding (NIV, Job 37: 5). Further, Job explains that God does the things He does so that people, who are His creation, may acknowledge his astonishing power. For instance, he commands the rain shower to fall to the earth as a heavy downpour, and it obeys. In a word, Job uses the entire chapter to enumerate the numerous ways in which God demonstrates his power. Mind you, Job was extolling God’s power after going through untold and terrible suffering that cost him his children, wealth, and he...
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