Answer to Job

Answer to Job (Antwort auf Hiob) is a 1952 book by Carl Gustav Jung addressing the moral, mythological and psychological implications of the Book of Job. It was first published as Antwort auf Hiob (Zürich, 1952) and translated into English (London, 1954).

Jung considers the Book of Job a landmark development in the "divine drama", for the first time contemplating criticism of God (Gotteskritik). Jung described the book as "pure poison", referring to the controversial nature of the book (Storr, 1973). He did, however, feel an urge to write the book. The basic thesis of the book is that as well as having a good side, God also has a fourth side - the evil face of God. This view is inevitably controversial, but Jung claimed it is backed up by references to the Hebrew Bible. The book, has however, been criticised. For example, it assumes that the John who wrote the fourth Gospel was the same John who wrote The Book of Revelation - which most Bible scholars today dispute. Jung saw this evil side of God as the missing fourth element of the Trinity, which he believed should be supplanted by a Quaternity. However, he also discusses in the book whether the true missing fourth element is the feminine side of God. Indeed, he saw the dogmatic definition of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Pope Pius XII in 1950 as being the most significant religious event since the Reformation.

The author Joyce Carol Oates, in her review "Legendary Jung" (from her collections of essays The Profane Art), considers Answer to Job to be Jung's most important work.

Editions

• Rascher (1953, 1961, 1967)
• Walter Verlag (1985) ISBN 3530407682
• Dtv (1990) ISBN 3423351217, (2001) ISBN 3423351713

English translation

• trans. R. F. C. Hull, in Psychology and Religion, v.11, Collected Works of C. G. Jung, (Princeton University Press, 1973) ISBN 0691017859
• Online excerpt of "Answer to Job"

References

Storr, A. (1973). Jung. Fontana Modern Masters Series.

Literature

• Paul Bishop, Jung's Answer to Job: A Commentary, Brunner-Routledge (2002) ISBN 1583912401
• review