Wrestling with Job: Defiant Faith in the Face of Suffering. By Bill Kynes and Will Kynes

Abstract

This volume emerged from Bill Kynes’ 10-week Lenten sermon series, which was shaped significantly by weekly exchange with his son Will. The conversational genesis of this book is conveyed through its very format: the pastoral voice of Bill opens chapters with a deft, accessible exposition of Joban material and its contemporary significance, and the scholarly voice of Will contributes afterwards with expansions of salient interpretative issues for those who wish to ‘dig deeper’. How pleasantly apropos this dialogical writing strategy is for the book of Job—though undoubtedly Bill and Will represent a far more symbiotic relationship and fruitful exchange than do the Joban interlocutors! Discussion questions for each chapter included at the end of the book fittingly beckon the reader to enter into the conversation with both text and community. The first chapter addresses challenges of the book of Job in its sheer length, theological complexity, and preoccupation with suffering. Pointing to the symmetry between Joban form and content, Bill advocates a patient, persevering reading of a biblical book which is itself intended to cultivate persevering faith amid the inevitable buffeting of life’s suffering, after the model of protesting Job. The remaining nine chapters of Wrestling with Job provide a coherent reading of the book of Job while progressing through its literary segments: in the prologue (Job 1–2), the cynical Satan assails the genuineness of Job’s faith and God’s intrinsic worthiness to be feared (ch. 2). Job’s pivot from humble submissiveness in the prologue to bold protest in his lament (Job 3) and ensuing dialogue with the friends (Job 4–27) showcases the tenacity of Job’s faith and validates his integrity as he refuses the escapism of compromising either God’s sovereign justice or his own innocence; meanwhile, the accusatory friends fail to comfort Job owing to their simplistic view of divine retributive justice misapplied to Job (chs. 3–5). The poem of Job 28 serves as a ‘dramatic aside’ (p. 110) on the relational nature of biblical wisdom, positioned after the friends’ faltering attempts to furnish wisdom and within Job’s continuing wisdom quest (ch. 6). After Job’s ‘closing argument’ (p. 131) brazenly bewails his predicament and demands God’s appearance in court (Job 29–31; ch. 7), Elihu interrupts with a presumptuous, verbose tirade (Job 32–7), even as the only solution for Job will be personal encounter with God himself (ch. 8). When at last God answers (Job 38–41), his speeches graciously dignify Job and relate to his situation without furnishing the sort of explanation Job had sought; the result for Job is deepened faith and readiness to move past mourning (Job 42:1–6; ch. 9). In the epilogue (Job 42:7–17), Job’s faith is further vindicated through his intercession for the friends, and God’s subsequent restoration of Job’s blessing serves as an apt (but not strictly necessary) conclusion in view of God’s essential goodness and generosity (ch. 10). Joban tour complete, Wrestling with Job closes with an epilogue of its own, unfolding how the character of Job gestures towards Jesus as the ultimate ground of faith and hope in the midst of a broken world.