A Trauma Theory Reading of the Book of Job - by Michelle Keener (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Michelle Keener incorporates advances in modern trauma theory in the interpretation of the book of Job.

Keener focuses primarily on using the framework of a psychological trauma narrative to read the text, providing new insights into how Job functions as a text that deals with trauma.

After an extensive introduction to the history and fundamentals of trauma theory Keener actively applies a trauma theory reading to the book of Job with special attention paid to the elements of a therapeutic trauma narrative, its role in the cognitive resolution of trauma, and how this is reflected in the biblical text. This approach provides alternative answers to some of the suggested redactions, reconstruction, and inconsistencies identified in the text of Job by previous scholars. Keener also draws in the Wesleylan Quadrilateral as a means of reading the texts, and examines how her conclusions may be useful in applied community contexts.

Review Quotes

"In this insightful and thoughtful book, Michelle Keener employs recent trauma theory to illuminate the structure and language of the ancient book of Job. Invited into the circle of Job's hearers, we become compassionate listeners to Job's shattered world and witnesses of his process of meaning-making." --Jill Firth, Ridley College, Australia

"A timely, insightful, compassionate, and trauma-informed study of Job. Keener demonstrates how Job processes his overwhelming and incomprehensible loss through dialogue, metaphor, and divine encounter. Instead of abstract theodicy, Keener prompts the reader's deep pastoral reflection on the God of all creation who witnesses and dignifies life's pain and suffering." --Michael Wagenman, Cambridge University, UK

"Using the lens of trauma, Michelle Keener ably re-centers scholarly attention on Job's expression of one man's particular experience of suffering. Engaging with existing scholarly debates, Keener opens additional avenues of research, inviting her audience to consider the way the biblical text makes meaning and how it continues to speak today." --Jennifer Brown Jones, Liberty University, US

"The biblical Job's saga has been subjected to divergent investigations. Michelle Keener applies the contemporary trauma theory to hermeneutically read the text of the ancient grief-stricken patriarch's trauma narrative. She highlights how therapeutic-storytelling approach enhances holistic theological meaning-making of Job's traumatic experience and unveils his homeostatic cognitive resolution." --Joel Ajayi, Liberty University Rawlings School of Divinity, USA

A timely, insightful, compassionate, and trauma-informed study of Job. Keener demonstrates how Job processes his overwhelming and incomprehensible loss through dialogue, metaphor, and divine encounter. Instead of abstract theodicy, Keener prompts the reader's deep pastoral reflection on the God of all creation who witnesses and dignifies life's pain and suffering.
Michael Wagenman, Cambridge University, UK

In this insightful and thoughtful book, Michelle Keener employs recent trauma theory to illuminate the structure and language of the ancient book of Job. Invited into the circle of Job's hearers, we become compassionate listeners to Job's shattered world and witnesses of his process of meaning-making.
Jill Firth, Ridley College, Australia

Using the lens of trauma, Michelle Keener ably re-centers scholarly attention on Job's expression of one man's particular experience of suffering. Engaging with existing scholarly debates, Keener opens additional avenues of research, inviting her audience to consider the way the biblical text makes meaning and how it continues to speak today.
Jennifer Brown Jones, Liberty University, US

About the Author

Michelle Keener, PhD is an adjunct professor of Christianity at Houston Christian University and an associate research fellow with the Kirby-Laing Centre for Public Theology. Keener also serves as the director of discipleship for a growing church in Las Vegas. She is an award-winning novelist and devotional author. Keener and her family live in beautiful southern Nevada.