Das Buch Ijob und Meister Eckharts Buch der göttlichen Tröstung
- Autor(en)
- Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger
- Abstrakt
This article attempts to interpret the Old Testament Book of Job in the light of Meister Eckhart’s Liber Benedictus and especially its first part, the Book of Divine Consolation. Based on Eckhart’s metaphysical foundation of consolation, the analysis focuses on the surprising similarities between the two books, especially with regard to their perspective on suffering as a way to God. Both the Book of Divine Consolation and the Book of Job deal with suffering that is not to be considered as a consequence of sin and, therefore, not as punishment. Both Job and Meister Eckhart emphasise the fact that a sufferer can ultimately never be really consoled by other human beings. As the contribution will discuss in more detail, they both are convinced that suffering can truly be overcome only through a process that takes place in the consciousness of the sufferer himself. Job talks about ‘seeing God’, Eckhart about ‘becoming conscious of the divine ground’ and ‘being born from God’, which, in turn, leads to the abandonment of all created being. Both the Book of Job and Meister Eckhart stress the inseparable connection between knowing God and knowing oneself. From Eckhart’s perspective, Job’s path can be interpreted as a path towards ‘Godlessness’, understood as letting-go of God for God’s sake. Furthermore, both books refrain from proposing an explicitly eschatological solution to the problem. The question remains, however, why Eckhart’s Liber Benedictus does not contain a single direct quotation from the Book of Job. We shall propose at least some plausible explanations for this fact, without pretending to have a definitive answer.
- Organisation(en)
- Institut für Bibelwissenschaft
- Seiten
- 179-224
- Anzahl der Seiten
- 46
- Publikationsdatum
- 09-2018
- Peer-reviewed
- Ja
- ÖFOS 2012
- 603201 Alttestamentliche Bibelwissenschaft, 603114 Philosophie des Geistes
- Schlagwörter
- Link zum Portal
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/das-buch-ijob-und-meister-eckharts-buch-der-goettlichen-troestung(87329aa9-077c-4cf6-99e0-39a31ef2f5de).html