26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Faithful questioning..., September 4, 2003
This review is from: Job: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching) (Hardcover)
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.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A preacher's commentary, November 10, 2006
This review is from: Job: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching) (Hardcover)
What a joy to use! True to the intent of the "Interpretation" series, this commentary by Gerald Janzen is perfect for the preacher. All the scholarly information you need is there, but integrated with exposition in an interesting way. Basically he treats Job as a classical piece of literature. He weaves discussion of the two questions posed by the book all the way through the commentary: Why do the righteous suffer? Why are the righteous pious?
In a synopsis at the beginning of the commentary he locates Job within the history of Israel's religion; deals with the role of irony in Job; and the lifts up what he considers to be the 'existential questions' raised by the book. They demand of the reader "morally active engagement" with the issues raised by the text.
This is one of the few commentaries I have been tempted to read through from beginning to end. I did a good portion this way and only a lack of time prevented me from finishing. But I did go to the end because I was preaching on 42:1-6 in a couple of weeks' time. Janzen's dealing with the speeches of Yahweh and Job's response in 42:1-2 are worth the price of the book.
It may sound obvious to say that he does not end with answers to the questions posed at the beginning. We are dealing with mystery here! But what becomes clear all the way through, and focused at the end, is that precisely because the text "ends in an indeterminate way" the hearer "is drawn to complete the answer." In brief, are we as readers prepared to accept our status as royal beings, because made in the image of God, though we are made of "dust and ashes"?
Janzen's tranlation of 42:1-6 changes the way the crucial questions are poised. And, unlike most recent commentators, Janzen believes the epilogue is an integral part of the original text. His argument is persuasive on both literary and theological grounds.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Book on Job, July 4, 2006
This review is from: Job: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching & Preaching) (Hardcover)
G Janzen has written what can be called simply the best book on Job ever composed. It will not only transform your way of reading the story of Job, but it will also transform the way you see humanity, God and yourself.
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