On Suffering: Job

Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice...Why do the wicked still live, Continue on, also become very powerful?...They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing, And they take away the sheaves from the hungry...How then will you vainly comfort me, For your answers remain full of falsehood?...But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me....What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you...But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God.


from the Book of Job

today i spoke to Angel about my reading of the Book of Job. it was great to be talking about religion and radicalism together again (something rare in a society in which "religion" is seen as the tool of conservatives and "social science" is seen as the tool of radicals). i would like to share some of the thoughts that i expressed in that conversation here. i shall try to do it in three installments. in the first i'll talk about my reading of Job, in the second the concept of unfinished creation, and in the third the relationship of these spiritual reflections to radical social theory/practice.

[note: it's not really necessary to read the Book of Job to get an idea of what i'm saying, but it would help. anywayz...]

what i loved about Job was his audacity. in his suffering Job talked about the unjust ways that innocent people suffer and how the unrighteous amass power and wealth at their expense. reflecting on all of this, Job sought to challenge God. Job did not ask, however, how injustice could exist in a world created by a just God. rather, he sought to compel God to act. Job, who lived a righteous life, believed that this living itself constituted an argument which could compel a shift in God's relationship to humanity and the world. this is important.

many people forget that the bible is not a story about the gradual revealing of God's nature, but rather the story of a developing (that is, historical) relationship between God, people, and Creation as a whole. and it is the behavior of people--prophets, nations, prostitutes, carpenters, and kings--that leads to shifts in the God-humanity-creation relationship. this is explicitly represented in God's developing covenants with the people but is also implicit throughout the bible.

[2nd thought note: this post seemed a bit out of place. i kept wanting to edit it and i didn't want to rush the next installments. so, on second thought, i cut it and moved the complete post to my Máti wikipage on Meditations. if you wanna read the full post as well as parts 2 & 3 check the developments there.]