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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.64356/2233-1387.2026.30.1.59
Submission: Existential and Ontological Analysis of the Book of Job
Toma Gruica
; Dr. Franjo Tuđman Defense and Security University, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper offers an interdisciplinary interpretation of the Book of Job. Drawing on ontology, philosophical existentialism, and theology, the paper proposes that Job’s deepest cry is directed not toward justice or reward, but toward intimacy with a God who appears distant and indifferent. This longing, articulated in Job 19:25-27, is read typologically as a prefiguration of the incarnational logic of the Gospel of John, where divine love becomes accessible through embodiment and friendship. The article explores how Job, stripped of all worldly meaning, confronts not merely divine silence but the trauma of „metaphysical“ abandonment, thereby opening a theological space in which suffering is no longer punishment but a site of relational hope. In rejecting moral rationalizations, Job anticipates a theology of grace that redefines righteousness as the capacity to desire a God who desires us back.
Keywords
Book of Job; incarnation; existential theology; intimacy; embodiment; theology of grace; righteousness; suffering; hope
Hrčak ID:
350491
URI
Publication date:
2.9.2026.
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