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Does God Micromanage the World? Learning about the Cosmos from the Book of Job

  • Jozef Jančovič ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: March 7, 2023

Abstract

The biblical book of Job contains more extensive discussion of the cosmos and God’s role in it than any other book in the Bible with the possible exception of Psalms. The main issue of the book is God’s justice towards the sorely tried protagonist, Job. The major distinction between the book of Job and the thinking of the general ancient Near Eastern culture is the role of God’s justice and wisdom in the operations of the cosmos. This paper will focus on the key passages about the cosmos in Job in order to define the specific message of the book concerning the relations of God and men to the world, and determine how the book of Job views a control of the world in the overall context of the book. First, we will consider the context and structure of the book. Then the passages about the cosmos and creation themselves will be summarized in an attempt to determine what they are communicating, especially in regard to God’s control of the world. Finally, we will draw conclusions about the overall role that biblical creation imagery plays in the drama of Job.


Corresponding author: Jozef Jančovič, Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology, Comenius University Bratislava, Kapitulská 26, 814 58Bratislava, Slovakia, E-mail:

Award Identifier / Grant number: APVV-18-0103

  1. Research funding: This research was funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under contract no. APVV-18-0103: Paradigmatic Changes in the Understanding of Universe and Man from Philosophical, Theological, and Physical Perspectives.

  2. Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

  3. Declaration: I, Jozef Jančovič, declare that I am author of this paper and approve the submitted version. My work is original and is not under consideration by any other journal. I have permission to reproduce any previously published materia.

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Received: 2022-12-13
Revised: 2023-01-22
Revised: 2023-01-22
Accepted: 2023-02-01
Published Online: 2023-03-07
Published in Print: 2023-06-27

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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