from the archives at THEOOZE

excerpt from Andrew Jones' article
The Skinny on Postmodernity Series: Part I Postmodernism and Global Worldviews

Job and and Three Unhelpful Friends
1. Traditional. Bildad responds to Job by asking what the fathers have said about the situation because there was nothing new to be learned. He is a traditionalist and he looks back in history to find what others have already said. He has a high regard for truth and sees it as inherited, not to be messed with, something wrestled over by the elders, handed down to those eager for wisdom, and eventually passed on to the next generation.

2. Rational. Zophar appeals to rational wisdom and hints that Job is "witless" or stupid. He also gives a formula that "if" Job does certain things, then a favorable outcome will result. His approach would be considered "modern" in todays understanding of the world. Modern thinkers see truth as something available to those who are willing to work hard to find it. Truth gives itself to diligent study, methodical inquiry, unbiased interrogation. Truth evades the foolish and cannot be passed on through good breeding. It responds to scientific methods of discovery and can be proved on scientific grounds. Here we have the basic Enlightenment paradigm and the dominant western worldview for the past 200 years.


3. Mystical. Eliphaz appeals to his experiences to prove his point. He had a dream and his hair stood on end. A spirit appeared. This was proof enough. He sees God as one who "performs wonders that cannot be fathomed". He sees truth as something elusive, beyond the reach of mortal men who are bound in the material world, limited by the senses and the boundaries of existance. Truth to Eliphaz, and to millions around the world, is available only in short glimpses and at special times when the dimensions meet, in the time between times, in the gap moments of revelation and enlightenment.