The Queering of Job: Part 4

January 1, 2006

Job’s Reorientation

As described in the summary, in the end Job’s final response to God is to reject him. Reject the God of traditional theology; the God who was described in the speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu; the God who appeared like a celestial bully from the middle of the whirlwind. No. Job wasn’t sorry for the words he had spoken but he was sorry for himself and for all mortal humans who fell under the rule of that kind of God. That was a God he loathed and the theology that had been his anchor was no more.

In response God reproves the three accusers for misrepresenting him and credits Job alone for speaking of God what is right. It would seem that the writer of the story is saying that God agreed with Job, that God wasn’t the God he had been made out to be in traditional theology. All those angry, fearful, frustrated and bitters words that had poured out from Job expressing the most honest feelings of his heart were affirmed by God.

We know Job’s theological orientation is no longer what it once was but what is he left with? What has he to believe in if not what he had always known? Penchansky suggests that the movement from disorientation to reorientation is “metaphorical. It does not represent a quest for ultimate meaning, but imaginative play about the text,” 11 and so if you don’t mind, I’d like to play for a minute by imagining where Job stood when all the verbal dust had settled.

When the Lord vindicates Job before Eliphaz and further requires that they receive prayers on their behalf from Job to soothe God’s anger there was most certainly a rush of emotions. Relief that at last his innocence is known by God and his accusers, perhaps a little gleeful in the turn of events for the once arrogant Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, but more than anything I would imagine Job was grieving the death of the theology he had once staked his life upon. No, he doesn’t want to go back to where he started because he has seen it for what it really was, but still he grieves because it is all that he had known, yet in finally “seeing” Job gains a new understanding of himself, of his situation, and of God. There will no longer be a laundry list of absolutes for Job. No easy answers. Perhaps to some small measure part of the insight gained by Job was as Brown describes:

“He no longer saw the social outcasts as objects, whether of charity or of contempt. Rather he viewed them as partners, for it took a procession of wild animals and a boastful God to reveal to Job the common bond of life that embraces both ostriches and kings, the foolish and the wise, the stranger and the elite.” 12

Yes, Job is transformed but the world he has returned to appears just the same as it was in the prologue. Sacrifices are required of his accusers on behalf of their misspoken words of God while Job receives double of all that he had lost, more cattle, more feeds, more children. That sounds a little like retribution theology to me but not if you look closely for while the world looks the same there is a difference. Job’s home is set up differently. There’s been a shifting of order from tradition in that his daughters are named and given their own portion of the inheritance along with their brothers. Job is indeed thrown back into the world but it’s not exactly the same and even when it looks the same, Job knows it’s not because what he had once only heard, now he has seen and as a result his understanding has been forever changed.

Anita’s Reorientation

Coming out as a lesbian transformed my life most significantly through the changes that have come to my theology. The movement from disorientation to reorientation is less clear in my life than it appeared to be for Job and perhaps at times I still find myself wandering between the two, still confronting some questions and doubts with my defenses in place, guarding what I had always held sacred. There were times when I feared that letting one stone in my theology crumble would cause the entire wall to tumble down around me leaving me with nothing. Just so you know, that didn’t happen and my faith is secure!

There was no great theophany and no single moment of rejecting the God of traditional theology that ushered me into reorientation though my vision of God is very different than it once was. God is no longer omnipotent but a God who is doing everything possible at every moment to pull each of us toward the best good. God is no longer omniscience but knows all the possibilities. God no longer demands that we all come to God through one way alone but in loving all people equally God excludes no one from relationship who longs for it. I haven’t let go of everything and that’s not required. Every stone doesn’t need to be tossed aside but I believe every stone needs to be looked at closely and held up to the light before being placed back on the foundation.

And then again, reorientation for me hasn’t really been about building a wall since walls tend to keep out as much as they keep in. I’m not looking for another set of absolute answers but instead it’s about living with a theology that allows room for dissonance, a place where questions can live without answers. The book of Job doesn’t answer the questions so why should I need to?

I suppose I should add that like Job all that I lost has been restored and doubly so. For every door to ministry that closed in my face, two others have opened. I have a lovely home, an incredible wife, and a great family. My life is better than ever. I can’t explain why though certainly I’m grateful. But while things might appear very much the same as they once did I know the world is different because of the journey I’ve taken. Everything is different.

Spread the Word!