The Book of Job and American Literature JB Play as a Case Study

Abstract

The Biblical story of Job is considered to be one of the most famous literary works in the history of humanity. It has spread in a number of popular literary works. The “Book of Job” speaks about a religious pious man named Job who is faithful to God and fears Him. Yet, he is subjected to various tribulations and sufferings. Because of this apparent contradiction between Job’s faith and God’s treatment, different analyses and approaches have been created to analyze and address the concept of good and evil and the Divine Role and Justice. _x000D_ Archibald MacLeish was one of those writers and thinkers who relied on the Biblical story of Job to write his play “J.B”. He made some changes to the original story to reflect his views on the problem of good and evil, and the Divine Role and Justice in people’s life. He did not find the theologian interpretations, which dealt with Job, appropriate and enough; Job’s faith was being tested and if he succeeded, God would reward his true faith and patience. According to MacLeish, Job did not receive a fair divine treatment and Job represents all suffered human beings in the world. Due to the absence of rationality, to MacLeish, between the existence of the divine role and justice, he believed in the absurdity of God and he tried to find a solution to put an end to the inexplicable sufferings, which was away from any theologian considerations and interpretations.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Islamic Studies