The Intertextual Relationship of the Book of Job with Priestly Strands of the Pentateuch

This project examines the intertextual relationship of two texts from the Hebrew Bible that at first glance do not seem to have that much in common: the book of Job and the Priestly strand in the Torah (hereafter P). The book of Job is a wisdom book that takes the fate of a righteous but ill-fated man named Job as starting point for reflections on the order of the world and righteousness of God. P is one of the textual layers in the Torah that scholars reconstruct based on linguistic and theological characteristics. While many questions in the reconstruction of these different layers in the Pentateuch are disputed, the profile of P is quite clear. P is interesting for an intertextual reading with the book of Job because it emphasizes the order of the worlds creation, sacrifices and purity, and the status of human beings vis-à-vis Godthemes that also hold a key place in Job. Various scholars have noticed that the book of Job and P share various similar words and themes, but a detailed study that uses a clear methodology to clarify the nature and significance of the intertextual relationship between the two texts has not been done so far. This project aims at filling this gap. It engages the theory of intertextuality and thereby develops a model that mediates between author- and reader-oriented approaches. Crucial are the intertextual links between the book of Job and P that invite readers to read the book of Job in light of P. The most prominent example is Job 3:4 (Let that day be darkness) with its allusion to Gen 1:3 (Let there be light). In the past, many scholars have pointed out such links. A first basic step in this project is to collect such links, both from previous scholarship and through own observations. In the following steps, these intertextual links will further be studied and analyzed. An important question thereby is how likely it is that a link is established on purpose by the authors of Job (or the authors of P) (author-oriented approach to intertextuality). To answer this question in a methodologically controlled way, the project takes up (and modifies) the approach of literary critic Manfred Pfister, who suggested to scale intertextuality, i.e., to measure the degree of intertextual density of links, paying attention to a set of qualitative and two quantitative criteria. Another important question is what these links contribute to the meaning of the book of Job (and P, respectively), regardless of whether they were intended by the authors or not (reader-oriented approach to intertextuality). Finally, the project will ask about the overall significance of the intertextual links of the book of Job to P, comparing the findings with the result of similar studies on the intertextual relationship of the book of Job to other writings from the Hebrew Bible.