The Many Voices of Job

In this compelling work Fisher brings a fresh understanding to the book of Job by highlighting the four main sections of the book that have truly different perspectives: the folktale the poetic dialogue the poem on wisdom and Elihus speeches. As he says in the Preface the poem and its author were framed in both meanings of that word. The Ancient Folktale of Job formed a frame that was ancient and ornate and it ruined the inserted poem or dialogue. It caused both books to be misunderstood. Anyone interested in a fresh translation and a vibrant analysis of Job will want to read this volume. Loren Fisher provides a fine translation and an insightful commentary on the book of Job. Over against efforts by ancient editors and contemporary interpreters to force the story into a single often consoling message he highlights the disconcerting and opposing voices within the whole. These voices yield an open-ended debate between God unjust and cruel and God merciful and compassionate--a debate that endures to this day. --Phyllis Trible author of Texts of Terror Many writers seek a single unifying thesis in the book of Job. Fisher uncompromisingly insists that it is not a coherent book. By taking it apart he exposes the contrasting views of God and justice. In particular he frees the angry Job to utter his powerful and unqualified attack on the orthodoxy of his day and of ours. --John B. Cobb Jr. author of A Christian Natural Theology Loren Fisher proposes an insightful approach to the entirety of the book of Job enabling us to read this prime exemplar of the biblical wisdom tradition differently. Instead of forcing its parts and speeches into a single mold he shows how it speaks with different voices like the separate themes of a symphony. --Baruch A. Levine author of In the Presence of the Lord Loren R. Fisher took early retirement as Professor of Hebrew Bible at the School of Theology at Claremont and Professor of Semitic Languages and Literature at Claremont Graduate School. He edited Ras Shamra Parallels (vols. 1 and 2) and he is the author of Genesis: A Royal Epic The Jerusalem Academy and The Minority Report.