Dissecting Job: A Physician's Postmortem Analysis

By Stephen D. Harrison

Join a medical doctor to discover the mystery of Job. Experience Job in ways you may not have thought of previously: impulsive, arrogant, rebellious, self absorbed, ungrateful, judgmental, frustrated, angry , cursing, mocking , and impatient . Does Job have something to hide beyond these well documented scripture based traits? Enliven your understanding and appreciation as you realize the full sensory experience of this poetic story and its mysterious dark side. Then watch the man God calls perfect unravel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512777444

Stephen D. Harrison

Stephen D Harrison is a physician of more than thirty years in Illinois. He is a preacher’s kid and philosophy major who has seen his share of suffering. This book is a response to his college minister’s challenge to reconsider his preconceptions on the book of Job.

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Copyright © 2017 Stephen D. Harrison, M.D.

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ERV – Easy to Read Version: Scripture quotations marked ERV taken from the HOLY BIBLE: EASY-TO-READ VERSION © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center, Inc. and used by permission.

GNB: Scripture quotations marked GNB are taken from the Good News Translation — Second Edition. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

KJV: Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

TLB: Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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NASB: Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 byThe Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NIV: Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

RSV: Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-7743-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7744-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903239

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/23/2017

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction To Job

Chapter 1 History Taking And History Making

The Perfect Legend

Coming to His Senses

Patience? Who Started That Rumor?

Introspection

Contrast/Formulas

God of Job’s Understanding Versus the Whirlwind

Chapter 1 Questions

Chapter 2 Perspective

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

Job Mimics Satan

Job Knew Evil

Sexism or Anachronistic Gender Prejudice

Perspectives on Key Players

God Highlights Job for the Angels

Satan: Vicarious Pathologist’s First Cut

Chapter 2 Questions

Chapter 3 Starting Propositions

God’s Nature

Satan: Vicarious Pathologist Round 2

Why Do Key Figures Want Job to Curse?

Job’s Support System

Some Pretty Good Theology by Job’s Maligned Friends

Job Starts Cursing with the Best of Them

Chapter 3 Questions

Chapter 4 Pervasive

Darkness

Spirit

Embrace Ambiguity

Three Friends Go Fishing

Maybe

With Friends Like These

Reputation

Chapter 4 Questions

Chapter 5 Elihu-Master Pathologist

Intercessor

Justice: God’s Way

Humans Have More Choices than God Does

The Elihu Question

The Code: As Good as It Gets?

Chapter 5 Questions

Chapter 6 Night

The Night Judges Job More Than the Prince of Darkness Does

Nightmares

Adultery Versus Lust—Does Job Need to Distinguish?

Perhaps …

Chapter 6 Questions

Chapter 7 God: Supreme Pathologist

Job’s Day in Court

Killing the God of Job’s Understanding

Job Can’t Count

Job’s Preoccupation with Himself

Here’s … God!

God’s Grandiosity

Anger

Justice

Chapter 7 Questions

Conclusion

Foreword

If you enter this physician’s postmortem analysis of Job somewhat wary of a tedious, overly detailed analysis of every detail, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find another type of experience awaiting you. Dr. Harrison has engaged his subject with a medical practitioner’s eye for detail as it relates to the whole. So he holds up each detail in the story of Job that has stimulated his interest and examines it from various angles and posits potential conclusions as to the pertinence of its presence.

What I have found most compelling in this book is that as the reader, I am invited to share in the wondering about potential meanings and effects each detail has on the story’s message.

The author blends sharp, incisive analysis with conclusions that make sense. What takes this analysis into the realm of good theological/biblical work as most assuredly is also present in good medical practice is the openness to theorize possible meanings yet set aside dogmatic assertions until other pieces of the puzzle are examined.

You will be treated to an examination of some of the typical questions that arise from the book of Job but also from themes that you may have previously overlooked. Themes such as sacrifice, righteousness, evil, atonement and others may draw you into the story in unexpected ways. Taste the multisensory experience of Job as he encounters the whirlwind through the trained eyes of a physician. You may come to appreciate the dark side of the book of Job while Job’s own darkness is uncovered.

If you are approaching Dr. Harrison’s work looking for the true meaning of the puzzling story of Job, you will find yourself redirected along the journey toward meanings you possibly had not previously considered. Somehow, the expansiveness of this intriguing story pulls the reader in, and in the process, the pathos of humanity and God’s involvement with it take center stage.

Does it really matter that we know only in part but that at some point we shall see and know more fully to reference another book of the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:12) as much as it matters that humankind and God are