Re: [asa] On Job

My emphasis (admittedly hidden from view) was on what I took to be the "Alice" aspect: That is, do you look with skepticism on historicity if the events described seem far-fetched?

Job is clearly written more like a play than a history. Jonah is not written like a play, but the usual historical details, such as the name of the king of Nineveh, are missing; so it's a good candidate for allegory. But there's nothing in the text that can really make the case. Elijah appears in a book that's clearly history. But the "Alice" aspect is strong in all three cases.

Whether or not the book is history, what should we take literally? That's the question. The later chapters of Genesis clearly seem to be history, but who among us can take the reported fate of Lot's wife as fact? Do we believe God would go to the trouble of transmuting all the elements of her body just because of an inappropriate glance? Not I. What would be the point, other than generating a memorable Sunday school story forever after? This story is readily explained by elaborations on subsequent observations of a salt feature in the Dead Sea area. And when Elijah had 100 innocent soldiers killed by fire from heaven, doesn't this seem like gratuitous violence that may have been embellished considerably in the retelling? What would we have observed if we'd been on the scene at the time?

But if we are skeptical because of the "Alice" aspect, how much do we wind up believing in the end? That's the slippery slope. Obviously many theologians and clergy have slipped a long way down that slope.

Don

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Don Nield<mailto:d.nield@auckland.ac.nz>
  To: Don Winterstein<mailto:dfwinterstein@msn.com>
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu<mailto:asa@calvin.edu> ; Carol or John Burgeson<mailto:burgytwo@juno.com>
  Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 1:46 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] On Job

  Don W has introduced a "slippery slope" argument. I consider such
  arguments to be fallacious. Each passage in the Bible should be treated
  on its merits --- and that means determining the genre of the passage
  before one proceeds further with intepretation. If that means hard work
  for the reader of the Bible, so be it.
  Don N.

  Don Winterstein wrote:

> Would you assign Jonah similar status? Then, how about Elijah calling
> down fire on the captains of fifty? Once we get started, how do we
> know where to stop?
>
> Don
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Carol or John Burgeson <mailto:burgytwo@juno.com<mailto:burgytwo@juno.com>>
> *To:* asa@calvin.edu<mailto:asa@calvin.edu> <mailto:asa@calvin.edu<mailto:asa@calvin.edu>>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 04, 2006 6:37 AM
> *Subject:* [asa] On Job
>
> Vernon commented: "Can such passages as Job 1:6-12 =
> and 2:1-7 be 'interpreted' to mean something different from their =
> account of actual meetings, actual discussions and actual
> consequences?
> =
> And if, in your view they must be accepted as real events, what
> might we
> =
> usefully glean from them?"
>
> The most reasonable interpretation of Job is that it is a morality
> play.
> To consider it as sober factual history is ludicrous. Sort of like
> believing ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
>
> Burgy
>
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Received on Thu Oct 5 10:21:33 2006