[July 2006 journal entry]
For another angle, imagine Job and his three close friends having often discussed the subject of human suffering before his tragic circumstances occurred. Human suffering for the ‘scrapheap’ Job is now no longer abstract, no longer an idea, no longer a question. The ‘scrapheap’ Job can no longer walk away from a discussion of the subject. He now embodies the subject. His admitting fear and dread (3:25-26) indicates he knows of others whose plights the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm cannot explain or protect. Is his fear and dread, then, that his life is a frightening anomaly to the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm? that -- being his own experience -- his plight has sufficient weight to discredit the theology upon which he has based his life?
For another angle, imagine Job and his three close friends having often discussed the subject of human suffering before his tragic circumstances occurred. Human suffering for the ‘scrapheap’ Job is now no longer abstract, no longer an idea, no longer a question. The ‘scrapheap’ Job can no longer walk away from a discussion of the subject. He now embodies the subject. His admitting fear and dread (3:25-26) indicates he knows of others whose plights the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm cannot explain or protect. Is his fear and dread, then, that his life is a frightening anomaly to the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm? that -- being his own experience -- his plight has sufficient weight to discredit the theology upon which he has based his life?