A Trauma Theory Reading of the Book of Job

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.

Michelle Keener is director of discipleship at Destiny Church in Las Vegas, USA.