Hearing the invisible

The ears of Job, a psychoanalytic perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID21493327
AuthorsPieter Van der Zwan (0000-0001-6385-0561, University of Johannesburg, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume78
Issue1
Publication date2022-07-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0259-9422 • E-ISSN: 2072-8050
PublisherAOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.4102/hts.v78i1.7412
OpenAlexW4223437559
LanguageEN
References cited8

Job’s body is ‘portrayed’ in a text that can be nothing more than audible. Compared with the eyes of Job (mentioned 49 times explicitly), his ears (mentioned 13 times, i.e., four times less than his eyes, perhaps because his ears are less visible) play a much more subtle role, underlying even his final confession in 42:5-6, where it seems/sounds that his eyes gave him (only) his final in-‘sight’. That leaves the impression that his ears give him access to the second-hand testimony of tradition but his eyes to his own, personal experience. The hypothesis of this study is that a psychoanalytical perspective can give additional meaning to this polarity and cooperation of the senses for both the main character and recipient of the book of Job in that Job’s (in)sight depends on the foundation of the aural experience, even the musical experience.Contribution: A psychoanalytical perspective adds to the breadth and depth of insight gained from studying the role of the sensory experience in the narrative about the psychic and spiritual development of the protagonist in the Book of Job

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Literature · Musical · Narrative · Nothing · Psychic · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Sight · Visual arts · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy

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