Job (Interpretation : a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)

Rating:
Summary: Faithful questioning...
Review: J. Gerald Janzen was a professor of mine in Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament studies. I was fortunate to have classes with him the year before he retired. One of his special studies, and frequent references in class and conversations beyond, was the book of Job. One of the things he told me about putting together this particular volume was particularly insightful into the kind of care and attention he gives to the text. He said that he had compiled all of his notes and references, outlines and preliminary writings for the text, and then put them aside, and wrote from memory. Things he had studied had actually been forgotten from conscious remembering, and had become part of his embedded, subconscious memory of the text. He was both delighted and astonished to realise what he had forgotten that he knew during this writing.

This is a lot like Janzen. In the preface, he talks about the text of this commentary in terms of poetry, in that 'poems are not so much finished as abandoned in despair'. There shouldn't be too much despair in the 'abandoning' of this manuscript -- it is the nature of commentaries that there is always more that can be written, new interpretations to be developed, new facts to be considered. Any text is merely a snapshot of thinking at a particular time; a snapshot of Janzen's thinking about Job at any time is worthwhile.

Janzen follows an atypical format from most the Interpretation series commentaries. The Introduction includes a basic synopsis of the text as well as historical, cultural, and literary/linguistic issues. Unlike some commentators who see Job as somewhat apart from the majority of writing in the Hebrew Scriptures, Janzen sees Job as being part of the centre, the heart of the Bible, particularly at that point in Israel's history where it needed a re-evaluation of its own role in the world, and its covenant relationship with God. With due respect for the dangers of such an approach, Janzen also looks for connections with themes in the New Testament, acknowledging the temptation many Christians have of drawing simple parallels between the crucified Jesus and Job.

Janzen takes the text of Job by pericope (logical sections) and discusses each in turn. He looks at the overall construction of the text with a great deal of understanding of the underlying irony and existential questions posed, by Job, by Job's wife and companions, and even by God. Janzen looks to the structure of the text as essential to its meaning, yet still leaves certain questions for the reader of this commentary (and of Job itself) to answer -- does the meaning contained herein make sense of the text, and does this text, so read, make sense of life? (p. 24)

The bibliography is good but not exhaustive, and alas the commentary has no indexes, which for another author might result in a reduction of rating.

Like the other volumes in the Interpretation series of Biblical commentaries, this text is intended to be useful to preachers and to teachers at various levels of church and school. In that task, this book succeeds nicely, neither being too dry or technical, nor compromising critical analysis or exegesis for 'readability'. Janzen combines accessibility and scholarship here.

No one commentary will ever capture the entirety of any Biblical book. Indeed, rarely will any one commentary contain the whole of even the commentator's own thinking on the text -- such is true with this text and Janzen. However, what is contained within is stimulating and engaging, and is practically essential reading for anyone concerned with Job.

Rating:
Summary: Faithful questioning...
Review: J. Gerald Janzen was a professor of mine in Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament studies. I was fortunate to have classes with him the year before he retired. One of his special studies, and frequent references in class and conversations beyond, was the book of Job. One of the things he told me about putting together this particular volume was particularly insightful into the kind of care and attention he gives to the text. He said that he had compiled all of his notes and references, outlines and preliminary writings for the text, and then put them aside, and wrote from memory. Things he had studied had actually been forgotten from conscious remembering, and had become part of his embedded, subconscious memory of the text. He was both delighted and astonished to realise what he had forgotten that he knew during this writing.

This is a lot like Janzen. In the preface, he talks about the text of this commentary in terms of poetry, in that 'poems are not so much finished as abandoned in despair'. There shouldn't be too much despair in the 'abandoning' of this manuscript -- it is the nature of commentaries that there is always more that can be written, new interpretations to be developed, new facts to be considered. Any text is merely a snapshot of thinking at a particular time; a snapshot of Janzen's thinking about Job at any time is worthwhile.

Janzen follows an atypical format from most the Interpretation series commentaries. The Introduction includes a basic synopsis of the text as well as historical, cultural, and literary/linguistic issues. Unlike some commentators who see Job as somewhat apart from the majority of writing in the Hebrew Scriptures, Janzen sees Job as being part of the centre, the heart of the Bible, particularly at that point in Israel's history where it needed a re-evaluation of its own role in the world, and its covenant relationship with God. With due respect for the dangers of such an approach, Janzen also looks for connections with themes in the New Testament, acknowledging the temptation many Christians have of drawing simple parallels between the crucified Jesus and Job.

Janzen takes the text of Job by pericope (logical sections) and discusses each in turn. He looks at the overall construction of the text with a great deal of understanding of the underlying irony and existential questions posed, by Job, by Job's wife and companions, and even by God. Janzen looks to the structure of the text as essential to its meaning, yet still leaves certain questions for the reader of this commentary (and of Job itself) to answer -- does the meaning contained herein make sense of the text, and does this text, so read, make sense of life? (p. 24)

The bibliography is good but not exhaustive, and alas the commentary has no indexes, which for another author might result in a reduction of rating.

Like the other volumes in the Interpretation series of Biblical commentaries, this text is intended to be useful to preachers and to teachers at various levels of church and school. In that task, this book succeeds nicely, neither being too dry or technical, nor compromising critical analysis or exegesis for 'readability'. Janzen combines accessibility and scholarship here.

No one commentary will ever capture the entirety of any Biblical book. Indeed, rarely will any one commentary contain the whole of even the commentator's own thinking on the text -- such is true with this text and Janzen. However, what is contained within is stimulating and engaging, and is practically essential reading for anyone concerned with Job.