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The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
From one of our most trusted spiritual advisers, a thoughtful, illuminating guide to that most fascinating of biblical texts, the book of Job, and what it can teach us about living in a troubled world.
The story of Job is one of unjust things happening to a good man. Yet after losing everything, Job—though confused, angry, and questioning...more
From one of our most trusted spiritual advisers, a thoughtful, illuminating guide to that most fascinating of biblical texts, the book of Job, and what it can teach us about living in a troubled world.
The story of Job is one of unjust things happening to a good man. Yet after losing everything, Job—though confused, angry, and questioning...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
October 2nd 2012
by Schocken
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I read Rabbi Kushner's big bestseller thirty years ago, and I remember being a little disappointed. It is usually described as theodicy, a description which Kushner rejects: he says that would be Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. He was much more interested in trying to encourage and justify the most humane reactions to bad events, rather than trying to explain away how a good God could allow them to happen in the first place. I thought at the time his was an optimistic and encouraging view,...more
This is a winter book or a book to read when time is a gift to savor. Go slowly, be patient, and think over every new thing that drops off the pages. Nothing creates a Wow moment, but all together the impact builds and builds. I never bend the tips of pages over in a book, and here I've done it fifty times. And each one is worth revisiting and rereading. Rabbi Kushner goes after the very question that every believer has to confront: why do bad things happen to a good person? Kushner goes further...more
I come to this book as a conservative orthodox Christian. Rabbi Kushner is obviously not. I do appreciate several insights he provides from the Jewish perspective. Being that the book was written by a Jewish author, there are several gems Kushner offers that many other authors might miss. In particular, his discussion of Job's appeal to Jewish law, which in essence ushers God in during the final chapters of Job was interesting. Kushner also has several practical and wise applications for those w...more
Harold Kushner is well-known for his bestseller “When Bad Things Happen To Good People” and in this book he takes the foundation of knowledge and experience from that novel (and life since then) and applies it to a scholarly review of the Book of Job. Kushner evaluates the book as two parts one part being the fable of Job and the second as the poem. His insight and the insights of others that he included in this book make it a wonderful insight into human suffering and a read along for a study o...more
Rabbi Kushner walks the reader through a text that is as difficult from the poetry/literary structure point of view as it is from the theology point of view. He has read, studied and taught the Book of Job for many years so he brings a deep knowledge to his explanations. He comments frequently on the language and translation issues involved with making Job accessible to a modern, English-speaking audience. My favorite part of the book was the last section -- a brief summary of how a handful of t...more
Five stars are not enough.
Inspiring, moving, and erudite. I don't want to summarize how the author interprets the Book of Job, as that would deny the reader the essential experience of encountering the text of Job for themselves. Suffice it to say that Kushner's interpretation and commentary are the most intellectually and emotionally satisfying responses that I have encountered in regards to this most challenging and vital of Biblical texts. The Book of Job is all about the problem of suffering...more
Inspiring, moving, and erudite. I don't want to summarize how the author interprets the Book of Job, as that would deny the reader the essential experience of encountering the text of Job for themselves. Suffice it to say that Kushner's interpretation and commentary are the most intellectually and emotionally satisfying responses that I have encountered in regards to this most challenging and vital of Biblical texts. The Book of Job is all about the problem of suffering...more
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I thought it was funny in the book that brilliant people that are beautiful usually have more children compared to people that do not have special attributes. lol. It seems in today's times the smarter the person is the less children they are having unless they are celebrity or someone like Bill Gates.
The rest of the book did have some points of interest. The book actually made me think why do good or bad things happen to people. Is it part of a higher purpose or are we creating a better world...more
The rest of the book did have some points of interest. The book actually made me think why do good or bad things happen to people. Is it part of a higher purpose or are we creating a better world...more
I've always found the Book of Job to be somewhat quizzical. God makes a bet with Satan wreaking havoc on poor Job? Thankfully Rabbi Kushner does a great job transforming this story into a beautiful understanding that's developed about this book over the centuries. Particularly key is the thought that Job consists of two stories: Chapters 1, 2, and 42 are from an older fable, while chapters 3 through 41 is somewhat related to the fable, but is actually a debate about the nature of God.
I particula...more
I particula...more
Much better than "Why do bad things happen to good people" IMO. Begins by outlining an interesting documentary theory that the middle poem is a later addition over the fable of the first and last chapters which I haven't run across before. Kushner's analysis of the Leviathan section of God's response is illuminating for me, getting to the heart of the argument. I won't summarize that argument here, as he does it much better than I could. But I am persuaded. The God and answer to suffering he pre...more
So much more satisfying than When Bad Things Happen to Good People. (I'm not exactly criticizing that work, because it takes a special kind of theologian with a special way of seeing the world to even attempt to tackle such a topic, and it's a topic that has troubled us for centuries).
Nonetheless, this work is meatier, more intellectual, and much more nuanced than Kushner's earlier book of similar title. I absolutely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Job.
Nonetheless, this work is meatier, more intellectual, and much more nuanced than Kushner's earlier book of similar title. I absolutely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Job.
Three chapters in, and as always, I am learning a lot from Rabbi Kushner
Okay, so now I'm done. And I had to sit quietly for a few minutes to absorb the power, especially of the final act of the book, in which, after giving us some of the "answers" others have presented (Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Heschel, etc) to the book, Rabbi Kushner presents his own answer. Wow.
Thank you once again, Rabbi Kushner for bringing teaching, insight, relevance and meaning to a text from our tradition, and more i...more
Okay, so now I'm done. And I had to sit quietly for a few minutes to absorb the power, especially of the final act of the book, in which, after giving us some of the "answers" others have presented (Maimonides, Spinoza, Buber, Heschel, etc) to the book, Rabbi Kushner presents his own answer. Wow.
Thank you once again, Rabbi Kushner for bringing teaching, insight, relevance and meaning to a text from our tradition, and more i...more
It helps to have read the story of Job itself before reading this book though Kushner helps lay out the basic story and the characters who try to help Job in his understanding of the events that befell him. I very much liked how he discusses how some passages should be translated differently than the standard text(either KIng James or JPS) and how he reasons for and against various interpretations. At the end I found his explanations somewhat uplifting that even in the face of great tragedy what...more
A book I read right after my Grandmother died, helped out a lot to understand things. Gives a history of how others view God and his own view of God as self-limiting in our Universe.
Beautifully written and thoroughly persuasive.
I struggle with a world with such arbitrary cruelty, where innocent people are so unjustly punished.
Kushner tries (and, to my mind right now, succeeds) to explain the impossible triad of: God is good; God is all powerful; and evil exists. He uses various and wonderful translations and different traditions.
I loved this book and am relieved to finally have the words to say it.
Em'as v'nihamti al afar v'efer.
I struggle with a world with such arbitrary cruelty, where innocent people are so unjustly punished.
Kushner tries (and, to my mind right now, succeeds) to explain the impossible triad of: God is good; God is all powerful; and evil exists. He uses various and wonderful translations and different traditions.
I loved this book and am relieved to finally have the words to say it.
Em'as v'nihamti al afar v'efer.
An excellent study of the book of Job by a brilliant Jewish theologian. Wish I could read this with a study group. Analytical but readable and loaded with thought provoking content.
Great insights into one of the most difficult stories of the Bible. Gave me quite a few things to think about.
The book of Job freshly interpreted by Rabbi Kushner.
An insightful look into an age old question.
Theodicy for the layman...well argued if ultimately unconvincing...
The Old Testament book of Job is a tough read. Things are going well for Mr. Job and then one day disaster strikes. His friends arrive to console and comfort him, but then the back and forth dialog begins and it is slow going. I had the pleasure of hearing Harold Kushner lecture on his book and it was helpful.
We humans do go through hard times. Things do not always go well for us. Trust in God and His amazing grace!
We humans do go through hard times. Things do not always go well for us. Trust in God and His amazing grace!
So interesting to read the analysis of the Book of Job, and to think about God and religion. Thoughts on why Ina world of a loving and just god do bad things happen to good people. Rabbi Kushner wrote about this topic in 1981, and revisits the topic with new insights.
I enjoyed the discussion of this; Kushner thinks very critically about Job and the impulses that drive him and the bigger mythical implications surrounding human origin.
Too much work- after interesting introduction this book quickly is reduced to simply retelling of biblical stories.
May 21, 2013
Michelle
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Joe
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Pet456unia
is currently reading it
May 06, 2013
Jose Torrado
is currently reading it
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Harold S. Kushner is rabbi laureate of Temple Israel in the Boston suburb of Natick, Massachusetts. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he is the author of more than a dozen books on coping with life’s challenges, including, most recently, the best-selling Conquering Fear and Overcoming Life’s Disappointments.
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