A Primitive Humanist in The Holy Bible: A Character Analysis of Job

Abstract

Punished by God without conducting evil, Job becomes suspicious of theodicy. His attitudes towards the world, life and God have been subverted and rebuilt owing to his affliction. The changed outlooks confuse and torture him so that he keeps asking questions in order to figure out the reason and meaning of his own suffering, which shows his intelligence and sensibility as a human being. This makes him a remarkable literary image with a tint of humanistic color. Based on the close reading of The Book of Job, this paper analyzes the changes of Job’s understanding of the world, life and God during his suffering. The paper comes to the conclusion that Job’s examination of his inherent views in a period of upheaval in his life demonstrates the idea of humanism to some extent. However, as the ending of the story shows men have to rely on God for salvation, therefore “humanism” in a religious context has to compromise with the theological system. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that The Book of Job somewhat displays embryonic humanistic thought and Job can be regarded as a primitive humanist in the theological discourse.