Job’s Silence on Slavery: Theodicy and Retribution in Tension (Job 31:13)


This article seeks to broaden the interpretative landscape concerning contemporary discourse on the theme of slavery within the book of Job. Written from the perspective of Africana critical theory vis-a-vis standard depictions of the character of Job, the author argues that the issue of slavery writ large, aside from its immediate social/cultural ANE context, poses more complex and relevant questions of marginalization with which the academy and more so, modern society, must wrestle. Arguing from the postulated hermeneutics of three contemporary writers, this article analyzes Job’s direct reference to slavery—and seeks to reframe Job through the lens of Africana critical scholarship as one of many options through which the text can be necessarily re-appropriated and re-deployed by marginalized communities.