Shattered Theology: A Trauma Theory Reading of the Book of Job

Date

5-25-2023

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Chair

Jen Jones

Keywords

Job, trauma, trauma theory, trauma studies, trauma narrative, hermeneutics

Disciplines

Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

Though there have been many approaches to the book of Job throughout the years one approach that has been overlooked in modern scholarship is a reading strategy that centers Job’s experience of trauma and addresses the ramifications of such an experience on the biblical text. This project suggests that the field of trauma theory provides an avenue of interpretation that focuses on Job’s experience and addresses how that experience has shaped the text. Using the framework of a trauma narrative, this project demonstrates that many of the suggested redactions, inconsistencies, and contradictions within the book of Job can be addressed by reading with an awareness of, and sensitivity to, the impact of trauma on an individual and the function of a trauma narrative in the cognitive resolution of a traumatic experience.

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