The Book of Job
At least 2500 years ago (and perhaps as long as 4000 years ago), we heard about “a man in the land of Uz, Job was his name. He was blameless and upright.” Nevertheless, this man was sorely tested, but maintained his personal integrity throughout the testing and, consequently, was given the gift a radically new perspective on God:
I had heard of you with my ear;
But now my eyes have seen you.
This brief course will seek to understand Job and his God by using two of his most famous interpreters:
- William Blake, whose last major work, Inventions on the Book of Job, was published in 1825.
- Carl Gustave Jung, who described his Answer to Job (1951) as his most perfect writing. “He would like to rewrite all of his books except Answer to Job,” he said shortly before his death, “He would leave that one just as it stands.”
How are we, and how should we be, touched by the story of Job?
May 1, 8, & 15
Bill Roberts, Wesleyan, ‘63, was the minister of the First Church for twenty years. He left the parish ministry in 1989, worked for KPMG and Prudential before beginning his own consulting firm. He has written two books: Initiation to Adulthood: an Ancient Rite of Passage in Contemporary For (1982), and Crossing the Soul’s River: A Rite of Passage for Men (at Midlife)(1998).