Ep 59 - The Book of Job (Reading the Bible as Great Literature)
Hardcore Literature
Benjamin McEvoy
4.8 • 606 Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
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Thank you so much. Happy listening and reading!
- Benjamin
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to Hardcore Literature, your favourite book club. |
| 0:04.0 | Deep dives into the greatest books ever written, provocative poems, evocative epics, and life-changing literary analyses. |
| 0:12.0 | We don't just read the great books, we live them. |
| 0:15.0 | Together we'll suck the marrow out of Shakespeare, Homer, Tolstoy and many more. |
| 0:20.0 | We'll relish the most moving art ever committed |
| 0:22.2 | to the page and stage from every age. Join us and me, your host, Benjamin McAvoy, on the reading |
| 0:29.7 | adventure of a lifetime with hardcore literature. Today we are discussing the book of Job, and before we dive dive in I wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you for listening. |
| 0:44.3 | And if you're enjoying the podcast and would like more bookish content, then you may like to check out the Hardcore Literature Book Club at patreon.com forward slash hardcore literature. |
| 0:57.6 | At time of recording, we are reading Tolstoy's War and Peace and we are making our way through the plays of William Shakespeare. |
| 1:07.0 | This year we will also be reading great writers like Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf, J.R.R. Tolkien, Thomas Pynchon, Alexander Dumar, Charlotte Bronte, Alice Monroe, Ralph Ellison, John Milton, Charles Dickens, and many more. |
| 1:24.1 | Join the conversation and read along with us at patreon.com forward slash hardcore literature. |
| 1:30.8 | Now, let's talk about the book of Job. |
| 1:34.5 | If a benevolent God exists, why do bad things happen to good people? |
| 1:43.2 | This is the main question at the heart of the book of Job. |
| 1:49.8 | One of the most difficult books in the Bible, most likely written around the 6th century BC, |
| 1:55.8 | though critics remain unsure of the exact date, and with roots in folklore. The book of Job is a grand drama, |
| 2:06.4 | intensely poetic, densely profound, and a sublime parable that is open to endless interpretation. |
| 2:16.6 | The exegetical books dedicated to this story alone would easily fill |
| 2:22.1 | an entire library, and so we must, out of necessity, be selective with what we choose to |
| 2:30.4 | explicate today. The book of Job, along with Ecclesiastes and the Proverbs, |
| 2:38.1 | forms a body of work in the Hebrew Bible that we refer to as wisdom literature. Read them |
| 2:46.3 | together or in isolation and you will feel the healing power of scripture whilst also enjoying great |
... |
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