Description
Book SynopsisThis book is for scholars and students of Bible, religion, philosophy, and ethics. It provides a new approach to the Book of Job that incorporates philosophy and ethics in its treatment of friendship, and it discusses such topics as tragedy and moral formation, narrative ethics, and virtue and human flourishing.
Trade Review'A highly significant contribution to the current interest in similarities between the Hebrew Bible and the virtue ethics tradition deriving from Aristotle, this is a fine analysis of friendship in Job. A penetrating, elegant, and profoundly important study.' John Barton, Emeritus Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford
'The topic of friendship in the book of Job has been waiting to receive its scholarly due for a long time. Dr. Vesely's study admirably fills the gap, as she effectively uses Aristotle and, more broadly, virtue ethics to navigate the minefield of friendship in Job. It is a foundational treatment.' William P. Brown, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary
'Patricia Vesely's Friendship and Virtue Ethics in the Book of Job is an important interdisciplinary work … an important contribution to both biblical studies and theological ethics.' David B. Hunsicker, Reading Religion
Table of Contents1. Introduction to virtue ethics; 2. Friendship in Aristotle; 3. The ethics of reading: friendship in the Old Testament; 4. Friendship in the poetic dialogue; 5. Contrasting moral visions: the Joban prose tale; 6. Virtue and the good life: Job 29; 7. Tragic literature and the cultivation of character.
