The Writings: Job–Sirach

The WritingsJob–Sirach Fred W. Guyette, Christopher T. Begg, and Thomas Hieke ________ 1261. The Text of Job David J. A. Clines, "The State of the Text of Job, " Where Is the Way to the Dwelling of Light? 165–83 see #1499. David Clines (1938–2022) wrote a three-volume commentary: Job 1–20 (WBC 17) ; Job 21–37 (WBC 18A) ; and Job 38–42 (WBC 18B). As he wrote that commentary over the course of 25 years, the main questions before him every day were these: What does this text actually say? And what does it mean? And how does this text fit with what precedes and what follows? "But suppose I didn't know for sure what the text was, what its words were, what it was that I was seeking to understand and interpret? That would make my daily task even harder. Suppose the text before me in the printed edition of BHS that we all use was a defective text. Would I not be wasting my time trying to exegete a text that wasn't a proper text, a text that was the result of an accident, that was not what the author, or perhaps even anyone else, intended it to be? Was I therefore not obliged to consider carefully—along with the usual exegetical questions—all the suggestions ever made for what the text may have said originally (or at least, earlier), in case one of them (rather than the Masoretic text) might be the text I should be understanding and interpreting? " C. considered thousands of emendations to the text of Job proposed by various respected scholars, and here he tries to give an account of the cumulative effect all those proposals had on his overall view of Scripture's authority and trustworthiness. —F. W. G. 1262. The Epistemology of the Friends in the Book of Job Katherine J. Dell, "Representing Tradition: Exploring the Epistemology of the Friends in the Book of Job, " HeBAI 12 (3, 2023) 282–94. The friends of Job (including Elihu) very much rely on an assumed tradition which gives authority to their words. They fall back on the sources of their knowledge from inherited tradition, notably from generational wisdom of the circles of the wise, claiming knowledge and "to know. " They pose questions to Job such as "what do you know that we do not know? " (15: 9). While they do very occasionally appeal to revelatory experience, e. g. , Eliphaz to visionary experience and Elihu to an angelic intercessor, their main focus is on arguing a common case based on inherited experience (validated personally) and reason. This is in contrast to Job who had shared this worldview and now challenges the friends' certainties. This focus on the friends' speeches raises epistemological questions such as whether the sources of knowledge justify certain beliefs and how we prioritize sources of knowledge such as tradition, divine revelation, and experiential wisdom. See also ##1263, 1264, 1265, 1279, 1293. Adapted from published abstract—C. T. B. 1263. The Epistemology of Arguments in the Book of Job Jan Dietrich, "Modes of Argumentation: The Epistemology of Arguments in the Book of Job, " HeBAI 12 (3, 2023) 266–81. My article excavates the epistemology of several modes of justification used by the characters in the Book of Job. After a short survey of the types of "arguments from authority" used by Job's friends, I highlight the epistemology of some critical and rational ways of argumentation used by different characters in the book, especially, but not only, Job himself. Personal experience, self-reflective thinking and second-order thinking, questions of definition, and the principle of impartiality all argue for implementing a critical, rational, and even judicial desire for objectivity in a wisdom disputation, which goes beyond arguments justified by appeal to authority. See also ##1262, 1264, 1265, 1278, 1292, 1301. Adapted from published abstract—C. T. B. 1264. Epistemology and the Book of Job Jan Dietrich and Jaco Gericke, "Editorial Introduction: Epistemology and the Book of Job, " HeBAI 12 (3, 2023) 247–50. As editors of this issue of HeBAI, D. and G. provide an orientation to. . .