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On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent
One of this century's most eminent theologians addresses the eternal questions of the relationship of good and evil, linking the story of Job to the lives of the poor and oppressed of the world.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1986
81 people are currently reading
796 people want to read
About the author
Gustavo Gutiérrez
106 books130 followersGustavo Gutiérrez-Merino Díaz was a Peruvian philosopher, Catholic theologian, and Dominican priest who was one of the founders of liberation theology in Latin America. His 1971 book A Theology of Liberation is considered pivotal to the formation of liberation theology. He held the John Cardinal O'Hara Professorship of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and was a visiting professor at universities in North America and Europe.
Gutiérrez studied medicine and literature at the National University of San Marcos before deciding to become a priest. He began studying theology at the Theology Faculty of Leuven in Belgium and in Lyon, France.
His theological focus connected salvation and liberation through the preferential option for the poor, with an emphasis on improving the material conditions of the impoverished. Gutiérrez proposed that revelation and eschatology have been excessively idealized at the expense of efforts to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth. His methodology was often critical of the social and economic injustice he believed to be responsible for poverty in Latin America, and of the Catholic clergy. The central pastoral question of his work was: "How do we convey to the poor that God loves them?"
Gutiérrez studied medicine and literature at the National University of San Marcos before deciding to become a priest. He began studying theology at the Theology Faculty of Leuven in Belgium and in Lyon, France.
His theological focus connected salvation and liberation through the preferential option for the poor, with an emphasis on improving the material conditions of the impoverished. Gutiérrez proposed that revelation and eschatology have been excessively idealized at the expense of efforts to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth. His methodology was often critical of the social and economic injustice he believed to be responsible for poverty in Latin America, and of the Catholic clergy. The central pastoral question of his work was: "How do we convey to the poor that God loves them?"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
February 24, 2009
It took awhile to warm up to Gutierrez. For some reason I'm not exactly sympathetic to the label "liberation theology" at the moment. Some reservations about the use of "innocent" with regards to the poor. But the last three chapters cleared some of that up.
Gutierrez maintains that the point of Job is right talk about God. I've been more interested in right talk about suffering but for the first time God's speeches at the end of the book make some sense. I always had the idea that God kinda changes the topic and says "I'm big, you're small. I'll answer you b/c you've been upright or because i want to but you're out of your mind." Its still something like that but a bit gentler.
Some interesting points:
1. Job moves from self absorbed suffering to a certain solidarity with the world's suffering (ie the poor mainly). personal->universal.
2. From thinking he knows whats going on to understanding that God's ways are much grander than he can imagine. Somehow this resolves his problem, which was that he was being put through unjust suffering by God. It seems he continues to suffer, but knowing that he is not somehow being punished by an unjust God or system.
3. The wager between the accuser and God was whether Job's faith was disinterested (for nothing in Hebrew). God is not for Job some kind of large vending machine. Job maintains his faith despite his reasoning that his God has both attacked him and abandoned him.
Gutierrez maintains that the point of Job is right talk about God. I've been more interested in right talk about suffering but for the first time God's speeches at the end of the book make some sense. I always had the idea that God kinda changes the topic and says "I'm big, you're small. I'll answer you b/c you've been upright or because i want to but you're out of your mind." Its still something like that but a bit gentler.
Some interesting points:
1. Job moves from self absorbed suffering to a certain solidarity with the world's suffering (ie the poor mainly). personal->universal.
2. From thinking he knows whats going on to understanding that God's ways are much grander than he can imagine. Somehow this resolves his problem, which was that he was being put through unjust suffering by God. It seems he continues to suffer, but knowing that he is not somehow being punished by an unjust God or system.
3. The wager between the accuser and God was whether Job's faith was disinterested (for nothing in Hebrew). God is not for Job some kind of large vending machine. Job maintains his faith despite his reasoning that his God has both attacked him and abandoned him.
January 31, 2017
A stunning interpretation of the Book of Job. Very readable. This book has been on the syllabus of at least three of my courses in one form or another, though it was never required reading. It should have been! The message of Job and the light that Fr. Gustavo brings to it from a liberation theology perspective is particularly relevant in today's cultural and political milieu. I highly recommend this book.
October 7, 2025
“The Book of Job is a literary construct, but it could have been written only by someone who had suffered in flesh and spirit. Job’s protesting lament bears the seal of personal experience; so do his confrontation with God, and his final surrender and new certainty. The work is written with a faith that has been drenched in tears and reddened by blood.”
I was absolutely floored by this book. Gustavo Gutiérrez, one of the most influential figures in the field of liberation theology (and thus, a large influence on my own religious outlook), writes with astonishing clarity as he explores what it means to believe in a God of Love while living in a world characterized so often by horrific injustice and suffering. His analysis is, of course, in conversation with many other parts of the Bible, and the numerous footnotes in each chapter do an excellent job of highlighting some of the allusions that readers with a decent-but-not-expert level knowledge of the Bible (which is to say, readers like me) might have missed. This, of course, was not particularly surprising; I was far more surprised by the number of literary comparisons he draws throughout the course of the book. Poems, novels, and even a play or two come up as Gutiérrez works to tease out the central concerns of the Book of Job, and I always appreciate theological writers who are willing to engage with works from the secular world.
The Book of Job was already my favorite book in the Bible, but if it hadn’t been, I think this would have given it a good chance at claiming the top spot anyway. Gutiérrez writes with an eye towards justice, and beautifully expresses the importance of working to improve the conditions of the poor and working class throughout the world, all while keeping the discussions of Job center-stage. A deeply moving work, from start to finish.
I was absolutely floored by this book. Gustavo Gutiérrez, one of the most influential figures in the field of liberation theology (and thus, a large influence on my own religious outlook), writes with astonishing clarity as he explores what it means to believe in a God of Love while living in a world characterized so often by horrific injustice and suffering. His analysis is, of course, in conversation with many other parts of the Bible, and the numerous footnotes in each chapter do an excellent job of highlighting some of the allusions that readers with a decent-but-not-expert level knowledge of the Bible (which is to say, readers like me) might have missed. This, of course, was not particularly surprising; I was far more surprised by the number of literary comparisons he draws throughout the course of the book. Poems, novels, and even a play or two come up as Gutiérrez works to tease out the central concerns of the Book of Job, and I always appreciate theological writers who are willing to engage with works from the secular world.
The Book of Job was already my favorite book in the Bible, but if it hadn’t been, I think this would have given it a good chance at claiming the top spot anyway. Gutiérrez writes with an eye towards justice, and beautifully expresses the importance of working to improve the conditions of the poor and working class throughout the world, all while keeping the discussions of Job center-stage. A deeply moving work, from start to finish.
June 2, 2025
How are we to talk about a God who is revealed as love in a situation characterized by poverty and oppression?
This is the central question that Gustavo Gutiérrez addresses in this work. While it doesn't offer the philosophical solution that many seek, he produces a compelling commentary on the book of Job through his liberationist lens. This represents a significant contribution to theodicy because Gutiérrez not only challenges classical theological approaches but also urges readers to fundamentally transform their framework for understanding suffering, both intellectually and practically.
This is the central question that Gustavo Gutiérrez addresses in this work. While it doesn't offer the philosophical solution that many seek, he produces a compelling commentary on the book of Job through his liberationist lens. This represents a significant contribution to theodicy because Gutiérrez not only challenges classical theological approaches but also urges readers to fundamentally transform their framework for understanding suffering, both intellectually and practically.
May 10, 2016
Early in the book, Gutierrez shows that devotion to God should not be based upon what one can get from God. Job's faith was “Disinterested”, his fidelity to God didn't falter when the copious blessings stopped coming. The accuser lost the wager.
This is interesting to think about, for on one level, a healthy and good relationship with others is disinterested (in the way Gutierrez uses the term). For example, when my sister ask me to help her with something, I don't do so in order to put her in my debt—I don't keep score. Yet, if my sister wasn't the wonderful person she is and was instead manipulative; using and taking advantage of me, I would then be hesitant, not wanting to encourage her bad behavior. So it seems with our relationship with God, in one sense, our love of God should be unconditional and our faith disinterested, and yet... there is a line somewhere, isn't there? What if God ended up being more like the devil? Does God deserve our trust and adoration if in fact he is sadistic, cruel and untrustworthy? For me the goodness of God is central to a continuance of my faith in Him. If God isn't good, his terrifying power might produce fear in me, but never love or allegiance.
Now, Job in his raw honesty eventually did imply that God was unjust; viciously trampling the poor and mistreating the needy without cause, and yet he didn't walk away. Possibly, like I have in many of my own poems, Job expressed the way things seemed, all the while, in his heart of hearts, giving God the benefit of the doubt. Job possibly clung to the hope that contrary to his experience, God really was good and just in some meaningful sense that he couldn't see. If not this, possibly Job was a model Calvinist; understanding that whatever God does is automatically good. If God tortured babies for fun; this is holy, just and righteous—merely because God did it. We as finite insignificant worms never have the right to question, we must merely grovel before his sovereignty and accept what he does, no matter how unjust, wicked and diabolical it seems to filthy rags that we are.
As the founder of Liberation Theology, Gutierrez expounds upon the “preferential option for the poor” and from this perspective notices what a majority of us might pass over when reading Job. One thing he called attention to was how Job was initially quite focused on himself, his perspective broadens later and he begins to himself as the representative for the poor in general. He saw that many of the poor were not suffering because they deserved it, but that many truly were innocent (which was a huge strike against his retributive theology that was also held by his friends).
Gutierrez also noticed that both Job and his comforters understood a central part of ones relationship with God was ones preferential treatment of the poor. The accusations of Jobs friends and Jobs case for his righteousness revolved around what James called “pure religion”.
Gutierrez is largely opposed to retributive theology (which the protestant Penal Substitutionary view of the atonement is established on) and sees the book of Job as an attack upon the belief that retributive justice is core to the very nature of God. Some think if God doesn't act with strict retribution, God isn't just. Gutierrez thinks the book of Job shows that God is not shackled to our notions of justice, God is not in a box, he isn't forced to punish the wicked here and now, nor under obligation to bless those who do rightly. God is free to do what he wants. Job had the retributive view, yet his knowledge of his innocent and his suffering blatantly contradicted his theology. He knew he was innocent, but his theology meant that God was therefore, unjust, for God it was was an either/or and this created quite a dilemma. His friends had the same misguided theology and knew God is just, so therefore, Job must have committed some sin deserving of the calamity that befell him.
With the help of a friend who also read this book with me, I think I now understand one of Gutierrez points at the end of the book. Not only did Job's experience and God's answer from the whirlwind, completely shatter his retributive theology, but Job learned that this theology would bind God's hands preventing him from showing undeserved grace. Somehow this negative experience opened Job's eyes to the gratuitousness of God's love, that God can show kindness to those who don't deserve it for he is not bound. But this also means God can seem arbitrary, he sometimes punishes the wicked, and often he does not, he sometimes shows kindness, but sometimes he does not. Its a fools errand to try to discern a rhyme or a reason, God is like a cat; always mysterious, doing what he wants when he wants to, on his own terms and in his own ways. He may show up, he may not, he is not like the loyal dog always at the door to great us.
I have questioned part of my theology due to experience that seemed to contradict it. Job's friends however wouldn't allow their theology to be reshaped; orthodoxy was the Procrustean bed—everything had to be hacked or stretched. Job's friends seem to be like the young, restless and reformed of today, for them experience and common sense be damned, the theology they inherited must be defended and protected from people like me, who in spirit of Job, doubt and question.
This is interesting to think about, for on one level, a healthy and good relationship with others is disinterested (in the way Gutierrez uses the term). For example, when my sister ask me to help her with something, I don't do so in order to put her in my debt—I don't keep score. Yet, if my sister wasn't the wonderful person she is and was instead manipulative; using and taking advantage of me, I would then be hesitant, not wanting to encourage her bad behavior. So it seems with our relationship with God, in one sense, our love of God should be unconditional and our faith disinterested, and yet... there is a line somewhere, isn't there? What if God ended up being more like the devil? Does God deserve our trust and adoration if in fact he is sadistic, cruel and untrustworthy? For me the goodness of God is central to a continuance of my faith in Him. If God isn't good, his terrifying power might produce fear in me, but never love or allegiance.
Now, Job in his raw honesty eventually did imply that God was unjust; viciously trampling the poor and mistreating the needy without cause, and yet he didn't walk away. Possibly, like I have in many of my own poems, Job expressed the way things seemed, all the while, in his heart of hearts, giving God the benefit of the doubt. Job possibly clung to the hope that contrary to his experience, God really was good and just in some meaningful sense that he couldn't see. If not this, possibly Job was a model Calvinist; understanding that whatever God does is automatically good. If God tortured babies for fun; this is holy, just and righteous—merely because God did it. We as finite insignificant worms never have the right to question, we must merely grovel before his sovereignty and accept what he does, no matter how unjust, wicked and diabolical it seems to filthy rags that we are.
As the founder of Liberation Theology, Gutierrez expounds upon the “preferential option for the poor” and from this perspective notices what a majority of us might pass over when reading Job. One thing he called attention to was how Job was initially quite focused on himself, his perspective broadens later and he begins to himself as the representative for the poor in general. He saw that many of the poor were not suffering because they deserved it, but that many truly were innocent (which was a huge strike against his retributive theology that was also held by his friends).
Gutierrez also noticed that both Job and his comforters understood a central part of ones relationship with God was ones preferential treatment of the poor. The accusations of Jobs friends and Jobs case for his righteousness revolved around what James called “pure religion”.
Gutierrez is largely opposed to retributive theology (which the protestant Penal Substitutionary view of the atonement is established on) and sees the book of Job as an attack upon the belief that retributive justice is core to the very nature of God. Some think if God doesn't act with strict retribution, God isn't just. Gutierrez thinks the book of Job shows that God is not shackled to our notions of justice, God is not in a box, he isn't forced to punish the wicked here and now, nor under obligation to bless those who do rightly. God is free to do what he wants. Job had the retributive view, yet his knowledge of his innocent and his suffering blatantly contradicted his theology. He knew he was innocent, but his theology meant that God was therefore, unjust, for God it was was an either/or and this created quite a dilemma. His friends had the same misguided theology and knew God is just, so therefore, Job must have committed some sin deserving of the calamity that befell him.
With the help of a friend who also read this book with me, I think I now understand one of Gutierrez points at the end of the book. Not only did Job's experience and God's answer from the whirlwind, completely shatter his retributive theology, but Job learned that this theology would bind God's hands preventing him from showing undeserved grace. Somehow this negative experience opened Job's eyes to the gratuitousness of God's love, that God can show kindness to those who don't deserve it for he is not bound. But this also means God can seem arbitrary, he sometimes punishes the wicked, and often he does not, he sometimes shows kindness, but sometimes he does not. Its a fools errand to try to discern a rhyme or a reason, God is like a cat; always mysterious, doing what he wants when he wants to, on his own terms and in his own ways. He may show up, he may not, he is not like the loyal dog always at the door to great us.
I have questioned part of my theology due to experience that seemed to contradict it. Job's friends however wouldn't allow their theology to be reshaped; orthodoxy was the Procrustean bed—everything had to be hacked or stretched. Job's friends seem to be like the young, restless and reformed of today, for them experience and common sense be damned, the theology they inherited must be defended and protected from people like me, who in spirit of Job, doubt and question.
Read
November 10, 2012I was reminded of this book when listening to Gustavo Gutierrez speak at Barry University, and I felt my soul on fire. Excellent book !!! I will never forget one quote " All liberation theology stems from trying to make sense of human suffering when those who suffer are the victims of organized oppression and exploitation."
January 31, 2021
Gutierrez gets to the heart of Job. He argues that the point of this story is to show that humanity's view of God's justice is incorrect. Only an understanding of the gratuitousness of God's love can allow us to see how God's justice requires our participation. Job's suffering allowed him to learn this because he really was without fault. His friends tried to convince him that he deserved to be punished but he holds to his innocence, challenges God, and eventually wins a visitation in which he learns the true nature of God's love and justice. Gutierrez writes with passion and insight born of ministering to the innocent who suffer. His interpretation offers hope to those who question God in the face of terrible oppression and suffering.
October 20, 2021
A beautiful and insightful work from Gutiérrez, the father of liberation theology. The book asks, “How are we to speak about God amid unjust suffering?” A must-read for people of faith, especially those who are justice minded and feel unease with innocent suffering (and in a world of anti-evangelical poverty and inhumane misery, this should really be ALL people of faith).
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April 14, 2025Dear old Job I love you so
November 30, 2025
“How are we to preach the love of God amid such profound contempt for human life? How are we to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord where death reigns, and especially the death of children, women, the poor, indigenes, and the "unimportant" members of our society?
These are our questions, and this is our challenge.”
These are our questions, and this is our challenge.”
January 10, 2025
How are we to do theology while Ayachucho lasts? While the Gaza Genozide lasts? Gutierrez argues that the book of Job is an argument against temporal retribution (rewards based) theologies in the ancient near east, which also dismantles modern day prosperity gospels in favor of a God who shows solidarity with the poor and oppressed of the world.
The suffering of the innocent is the point of departure for Gutierrez: How do we speak about God amid such profound contempt for human life?
“Job shows us a way with his vigorous protest, his discovery of concrete commitment to the poor and all who suffer unjustly, his facing up to God, and his acknowledgment of the gratuitousousness that characterizes God’s plan for human history.” 5/5
The suffering of the innocent is the point of departure for Gutierrez: How do we speak about God amid such profound contempt for human life?
“Job shows us a way with his vigorous protest, his discovery of concrete commitment to the poor and all who suffer unjustly, his facing up to God, and his acknowledgment of the gratuitousousness that characterizes God’s plan for human history.” 5/5
July 25, 2023
Gutiérrez once again brings a powerful mediation on God’s special love towards the poor and oppressed. Through the book of Job, he exegetes the book to show how the primary question of the book is how is it that God can allow the suffering of the innocent. Some of the most insightful parts can be found in the footnotes and poems that he laces throughout.
The question is grappled with throughout the book by considering the response of Job’s friends that God’s action is retributive: if you do good God will reward you, if you do evil God will punish you. Not only does Job not find this satisfying as he cannot see how he merits such suffering, God rejects this model of understanding His action in history.
Rather, the book proposes that God action in history is uncontrolled by human understandings of justice and love. Things are far more complicated than we can imagine, and God is working through a creative love with self-imposed limits on His own freedom to allow for human freedom. Through this creative and unrestricted love, God acts especially for the justice of those who suffering oppression.
“What is it that Job has understood? That justice does not reign in the world God has created? No. The truth that he has grasped and that has lifted him to the level of contemplation is that iustice alone does not have the final say about how we are to speak of God. Only when we have come to realize that God's love is freely bestowed do we enter fully and definitively into the presence of the God of faith. Grace is not opposed to the quest of justice nor does it play it down; on the contrary, it gives it its full meaning. God's love, like all true love, operates in a world not of cause and effect but of freedom and gratuitousness.”
“Prophetic language makes it possible to draw near to a God who has a predilection for the poor precisely because divine love refuses to be confined by the categories of human justice. God has a preferential love for the poor nor because they are necessarily better than others, morally or religiously, but simply because they are poor and living in an inhuman situation that is contrary to God's will. The ultimate basis for the privileged position of the poor is not in the poor themselves but in God, in the gratuitousness and universality of God's agapeic love.”
The question is grappled with throughout the book by considering the response of Job’s friends that God’s action is retributive: if you do good God will reward you, if you do evil God will punish you. Not only does Job not find this satisfying as he cannot see how he merits such suffering, God rejects this model of understanding His action in history.
Rather, the book proposes that God action in history is uncontrolled by human understandings of justice and love. Things are far more complicated than we can imagine, and God is working through a creative love with self-imposed limits on His own freedom to allow for human freedom. Through this creative and unrestricted love, God acts especially for the justice of those who suffering oppression.
“What is it that Job has understood? That justice does not reign in the world God has created? No. The truth that he has grasped and that has lifted him to the level of contemplation is that iustice alone does not have the final say about how we are to speak of God. Only when we have come to realize that God's love is freely bestowed do we enter fully and definitively into the presence of the God of faith. Grace is not opposed to the quest of justice nor does it play it down; on the contrary, it gives it its full meaning. God's love, like all true love, operates in a world not of cause and effect but of freedom and gratuitousness.”
“Prophetic language makes it possible to draw near to a God who has a predilection for the poor precisely because divine love refuses to be confined by the categories of human justice. God has a preferential love for the poor nor because they are necessarily better than others, morally or religiously, but simply because they are poor and living in an inhuman situation that is contrary to God's will. The ultimate basis for the privileged position of the poor is not in the poor themselves but in God, in the gratuitousness and universality of God's agapeic love.”
September 26, 2011
I'm studying the book of Job through several authors in addition to the Bible since it is a hard book to understand and digest. I was particulary intrigued by this book by Gutierrez as he ties in social justice to the themes of Job and the suffering of Job. This was an excellent read. I took several notes and gained new insights and "tie-in's".
One theme, besides the social injustice piece, that Gutierrez highlights - and I think is vital to understanding the book - is that of theology (talk about God). In his suffering Job learns how to talk about God in ways that are new and unfamiliar to him and his friends but not in ways that misrepresent God. God, in fact, is the one that teaches Job how to speak of God through his suffering and it is the very lesson that we need to learn also. How to speak of God in the midst of suffering and I would go one step further and say in the midst of life in general.
Gutierrez wrote a great and easy read on this hard to comprehend and apply subject.
One theme, besides the social injustice piece, that Gutierrez highlights - and I think is vital to understanding the book - is that of theology (talk about God). In his suffering Job learns how to talk about God in ways that are new and unfamiliar to him and his friends but not in ways that misrepresent God. God, in fact, is the one that teaches Job how to speak of God through his suffering and it is the very lesson that we need to learn also. How to speak of God in the midst of suffering and I would go one step further and say in the midst of life in general.
Gutierrez wrote a great and easy read on this hard to comprehend and apply subject.
April 4, 2013
We read this book in Montserrat. It provides a very thorough analysis of the story of Job. I think the one of the main messages that we should take from Job is that we should not let our theology be one of retribution; we should not assume that God is someone who makes people suffer because they have done something wrong. There is unjust suffering in the world, and it is inadequate to use this theology or retribution to explain the suffering that happens in the world.
February 6, 2021
This book lays to rest any sentiment that Job simply endured his trials in patience. He grieves, he protests, he complains, he demands a mediator, a witness and a liberator, and he defends his innocence and maintains hope in God. He actively struggles in the reality of his own innocence as a just man, one who has attended to the needs of others who suffer, and the widely held view by himself and his friends that his suffering is a punishment and God’s justice. In his own suffering he not only feels the pain of his own suffering, but is drawn to the suffering of others.
It is this agonising wrestle that calls us into the third space, a third experience where we encounter God, where we hear what God has to say on the matter and in Job's case God reveals that their love transcends mortal ideas of love and justice. That God’s love is gratuitous, that the whole of creation is an outpouring of God’s divine love not only for humanity but for the joy of creation itself. He understands that justice is not the ultimate final word of God, but love, of which justice remains a part.
Gutierrez beautifully weaves the experience of Jacobs wrestle into Jobs story illustrating both the blessing and the limp that results. The ultimate beauty of this book is the relation of Job’s suffering to the suffering of Jesus on the cross. That Jesus’ cry of desolation on the cross echoes his solidarity with all who suffer, that this cry invokes the 22nd Psalm that ultimately ends with hope despite abandonment and suffering. Jesus echoes this cry of hope as he surrenders himself to divine love in the face of extreme human violence.
So where does this message leave the believer? The suffering? It is a call to enter into solidarity with those who suffer. It is a call to reject simplistic prosperity gospel theology or a theology of retribution as the ultimate word of god and instead to embrace a theology of grace and hope and love centered on the mystery of the cross. It is an invitation to enter into the prophetic vision and the contemplative space where we encounter the divine that ever draws us towards repentance, metanoia, and this practice of love and justice in the world.
It is this agonising wrestle that calls us into the third space, a third experience where we encounter God, where we hear what God has to say on the matter and in Job's case God reveals that their love transcends mortal ideas of love and justice. That God’s love is gratuitous, that the whole of creation is an outpouring of God’s divine love not only for humanity but for the joy of creation itself. He understands that justice is not the ultimate final word of God, but love, of which justice remains a part.
Gutierrez beautifully weaves the experience of Jacobs wrestle into Jobs story illustrating both the blessing and the limp that results. The ultimate beauty of this book is the relation of Job’s suffering to the suffering of Jesus on the cross. That Jesus’ cry of desolation on the cross echoes his solidarity with all who suffer, that this cry invokes the 22nd Psalm that ultimately ends with hope despite abandonment and suffering. Jesus echoes this cry of hope as he surrenders himself to divine love in the face of extreme human violence.
So where does this message leave the believer? The suffering? It is a call to enter into solidarity with those who suffer. It is a call to reject simplistic prosperity gospel theology or a theology of retribution as the ultimate word of god and instead to embrace a theology of grace and hope and love centered on the mystery of the cross. It is an invitation to enter into the prophetic vision and the contemplative space where we encounter the divine that ever draws us towards repentance, metanoia, and this practice of love and justice in the world.
July 17, 2022
There is a lot to love about this book. Gutiérrez’s unique approach is rooted in his experience with the social injustices he has witnessed first hand in Latin America. His goal is to find in the Book of Job insights, answers and approaches that will help us to "speak well of God" in the face of the harsh realities of life.
I applaud him in this effort but I do think he reads too much into the text of Job, making it about the love of God in Christ. I personally don’t see a loving God at all in Job, and in fact I think that is the point of the book.
I believe the point of Job is not to give an accurate picture of God but to give an accurate picture of the bad theology that God is a transactional being. I believe Job only makes sense if we read it as a parable of Israel in exile finding not a God who is explainable, but one for whom all the old explanations don’t work. Job is a work of “deconstruction” to use a modern word.
That being said, I truly do commend Gutiérrez for taking on the challenge of one of the Bible's most difficult texts, asking the question, “Why do the innocent suffer?”
Unfortunately I’m becoming an apologist for the Job as an example of Jesus’ unbridled love, I think that the author makes a similar mistake as that if Job’s friends, he is trying to defend and explain God.
It’s a good book for sure and the author has a deeply wounded heart for sufferers. I just feel like we diverge in our theology about the book.
I applaud him in this effort but I do think he reads too much into the text of Job, making it about the love of God in Christ. I personally don’t see a loving God at all in Job, and in fact I think that is the point of the book.
I believe the point of Job is not to give an accurate picture of God but to give an accurate picture of the bad theology that God is a transactional being. I believe Job only makes sense if we read it as a parable of Israel in exile finding not a God who is explainable, but one for whom all the old explanations don’t work. Job is a work of “deconstruction” to use a modern word.
That being said, I truly do commend Gutiérrez for taking on the challenge of one of the Bible's most difficult texts, asking the question, “Why do the innocent suffer?”
Unfortunately I’m becoming an apologist for the Job as an example of Jesus’ unbridled love, I think that the author makes a similar mistake as that if Job’s friends, he is trying to defend and explain God.
It’s a good book for sure and the author has a deeply wounded heart for sufferers. I just feel like we diverge in our theology about the book.
June 23, 2019
I left without much increase in my understanding of God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent. There were some take-away ideas about religion (mostly in the introduction). For instance, faith because of God's wonderful creation can be a stumbling block to deeper faith. Deeper faith is trust in God's goodness and trust in His plan that we cannot understand. Just as Job could not fathom God but was satiated by His response in the whirlwind, we are to stand in awe and have faith that God is good. For me at this point this is more of a disciplined response, than something I feel in my bones. But that's ok too, it is no less genuine.
The liberation part of this is to see that if we try to understand God, predict Him or control Him in any way, then we are reigning Him in and He becomes less powerful, less free, less godly.
Overall, I think Gutierrez' reading of Job is spot on and helpful for someone who has not studied this in an academic setting.
This quote from David Richo is much more helpful for me:
Yet there is a positive side. Inconsolability means we cannot forget but always cherish those we loved. Unsatisfiability means we have a motivation to transcend our immediate desires. Unknowability means we grow in our sense of wonder and imagination.
The liberation part of this is to see that if we try to understand God, predict Him or control Him in any way, then we are reigning Him in and He becomes less powerful, less free, less godly.
Overall, I think Gutierrez' reading of Job is spot on and helpful for someone who has not studied this in an academic setting.
This quote from David Richo is much more helpful for me:
Yet there is a positive side. Inconsolability means we cannot forget but always cherish those we loved. Unsatisfiability means we have a motivation to transcend our immediate desires. Unknowability means we grow in our sense of wonder and imagination.
January 5, 2020
Today, I finished my first book of the year: On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent by Gustavo Gutiérrez and wow, was this one a doozy. It definitely gets 5 stars from me.
Job’s burden, reconciling unimaginable suffering with the idea of a just God, is a task one that few preachers or academics are bold enough to tackle. Gutiérrez manages to draw meaning from the text in a way that isn’t superficial or dismissive of trauma, eschewing the oft-repeated claim that innocent people “suffer for a higher purpose” and focusing rather on dismantling the idea that God operates on the basis of temporal retribution (the idea that good works and bad works incur worldly reward and punishment respectively). Gutiérrez writes through the lens of liberation theology, a movement among Catholic clergy in Latin America that emphasizes the biblical imperative of social concern for the poor and political liberation for the oppressed.
If you are someone interested in the theological justification of suffering, the implications of free will, and applications of theology to social justice, this book is a must-read.
Job’s burden, reconciling unimaginable suffering with the idea of a just God, is a task one that few preachers or academics are bold enough to tackle. Gutiérrez manages to draw meaning from the text in a way that isn’t superficial or dismissive of trauma, eschewing the oft-repeated claim that innocent people “suffer for a higher purpose” and focusing rather on dismantling the idea that God operates on the basis of temporal retribution (the idea that good works and bad works incur worldly reward and punishment respectively). Gutiérrez writes through the lens of liberation theology, a movement among Catholic clergy in Latin America that emphasizes the biblical imperative of social concern for the poor and political liberation for the oppressed.
If you are someone interested in the theological justification of suffering, the implications of free will, and applications of theology to social justice, this book is a must-read.
January 13, 2021
This is a very good discussion on my favorite book of the Old Testament (because Job captures both the utter transcendence and complete immanence of God in the world, and His intimate concern for creation, in a uniquely beautiful way). Although the first few chapters of this commentary have a strange and undisciplined structure, I wish he would have given more evidence or arguments for some of his interpretations, and I think he goes a bit too far with the anti-anthropocentrism in his overall interpretation, Gutierrez did manage to touch on some big themes that I haven’t much considered before, so I’m happy with the work.
March 25, 2025
If one was born and brought up in the middle class of the United States, it is easy to relate to Job as a tale about someone who had all they needed and suddenly lost it, thanks to Satan. Gustavo Gutierrez helps us to see that there are millions of people in Latin America who never experienced the good side of life even though they are, like Job, largely without sin. And, they are joined by millions in the US who share a similar fate.
This book is outstanding and relevant as we find ourselves in 2025 experiencing an attempt to make the US more like Latin America. The book helped me to a better understanding of the book of Job, and it's not the first commentary I've read.
This book is outstanding and relevant as we find ourselves in 2025 experiencing an attempt to make the US more like Latin America. The book helped me to a better understanding of the book of Job, and it's not the first commentary I've read.
March 25, 2025
Liberation Theologian Gustavo Gutierrez reflects on the book of Job through the lens of the suffering poor of Latin America. He shows Job to be an innocent sufferer who begins to see he exists in community and solidarity with the poor. God has granted him his love and Job experiences that in the end and so lives in the tension of his suffering but also his deep awareness of God's love and grace in his life. While not a commentary on Job, the book offers some deep thought about the mystery of God i a world where the innocent often suffer
February 28, 2023
Essential reading for anyone interested in liberation theology. Gutiérrez leads the reader through the complexities and contradictions of Job with rhetorical ease and contextualizes the book as a source of revelation about the sacred mystery. Job can be a confounding text, especially when it comes to how it sees God – Gutiérrez’s perspective is illuminating.
March 14, 2021
Brilliant. This book has given me a lot to think about and it has compelled me to dive further into practicing justice alongside the poor. It is provocative to all no matter your faiths or beliefs. It benefits all of us and our quest for a more just and loving society.
November 20, 2022
A powerful reflection and commentary on the Book Of Job, making the modern connection to the Theology of Liberation. I wa assigned this book for a course on Gutierrez, and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to read it.
February 20, 2023
The Book of Job contains monumental depths of meaning and mystery. This pithy theological mediation on Job’s suffering is utterly profound and a masterful example of God-talk from the standpoint of the oppressed.
March 28, 2023
I can’t stop bringing this book up in class or in my papers. That’s good, right? This book has given me language around suffering and God that I didn’t know existed. It also gave me more ammo against evangelicalism. Not that I needed any more, but I’m grateful all the same
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May 14, 2025I liked the Hart book, but I *really* liked this. Says less about the problem of evil than how we are to act in response to it, doing so in a way that foregrounds how God has already acted for us. Really helped my thinking on Job, one of my fav books.
June 17, 2025
stunning enfleshed exposition on the book of Job. need to read again and again!
Gutierrez talks from a Latin American perspective on the suffering of the innocent. his insights are readable, compassionate, biblical and above all, human.
Gutierrez talks from a Latin American perspective on the suffering of the innocent. his insights are readable, compassionate, biblical and above all, human.
November 25, 2019
A fascinating reflection on Job by one of the most important liberation theologians. I really enjoyed this.
March 30, 2023
Gutierrez and Moltmann Class
I read this for one of my theology classes. I really appreciate GG’s break down of the book of Job. God’s love trumps bad and lazy theology any day.
I read this for one of my theology classes. I really appreciate GG’s break down of the book of Job. God’s love trumps bad and lazy theology any day.
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