Answer to Job

Answer to Job (German: Antwort auf Hiob) is a 1952 book by

Carl Jung that addresses the significance of the Book of Job to the
Answer to Job
"divine drama" of Christianity. It argues that while he submitted to Author Carl Gustav Jung
Yahweh's omnipotence, Job nevertheless proved to be more moral Original title Antwort auf Hiob
and conscious than God, who tormented him without justification
under the influence of Satan. This scandal made it necessary for Translator R. F. C. Hull
God to become united with man. Satan was banished from heaven (1973)
and God incarnated as purely good, through a virgin birth, into the Language German
sinless redeemer Jesus Christ. Eventually, however, God will
Genre Analytical
incarnate his evil side as well. For this to happen, the Holy Ghost
left by Christ on earth has to enter "empirical", sinful human psychology,
beings in whom the divine can be realized completely. Jung turns theology
to the Book of Ezekiel, the Book of Enoch, and especially the Published 1952
Book of Revelation to consider how this may unfold. He suggests
Published in 1954
that the modern era, in which humanity wields immense English
technological power, will be crucial to this second divine birth.
Consequently, he interprets the 1950 papal dogma of the Pages 169 (1952 ed.)
Assumption of Mary as easing the transition towards completeness
by re-emphasizing the feminine aspect of God.

The book was first published in English in 1954. It has received both criticism and admiration from
commentators; author Joyce Carol Oates and theologian John Shelby Spong highlighted it as a major work.

Contents
Summary
Reception
Editions
References
Further reading
External links

Summary
Jung considers the Book of Job a landmark development in the "divine drama," for the first time
contemplating criticism of God (Gotteskritik). Jung described Answer to Job as "pure poison," referring to
the controversial nature of the book.[1] 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. 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.

Another theme in the book is the inversion of the biblical assertion that God sent his son Christ to die for
the sins of humanity. Jung maintains that upon realizing his mistreatment of Job, God sends his son to
humankind to be sacrificed in repentance for God's sins. Jung sees this as a sign of God's ongoing
psychological development.

Reception
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. The Episcopal Bishop and humanist
Christian author John Shelby Spong, in his book Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World (2011),
also considers Answer to Job to be Jung's "most profound work."[2]

Jungian scholar Murray Stein claims Jung viewed the Book of Job as an example of a Scriptural religious
experience:

"In Jung’s interpretation, Job is completely innocent. He is a scrupulously pious man who
follows all the religious conventions, and for most of his life, he is blessed with good
fortune. This is the expected outcome for a just man in a rationally ordered universe. But
then God allows Satan to work on him, bringing misfortune and misery. Being
overwhelmed with questions and images of divine majesty and power, Job is then
silenced. He realizes his inferior position vis-a-vis the Almighty. But he also retains his
personal integrity, and this so impresses God that He is forced to take stock of Himself.
Perhaps He is not so righteous after all! [ As Marc Fonda observes, God’s omniscience
precludes self-awareness. Being omniscient, God has no concentrated self to speak of.
Being a part of everything, God has no opportunity to distinguish self from non-self.
However, as God knows the thoughts of humans, through the thoughts of his creation he
can experience what self-awareness is. ] And out of this astonishing self-reflection,
induced in God by Job’s stubborn righteousness, He, the Almighty, is pushed into a
process of transformation that leads eventually to His incarnation as Jesus. God develops
empathy and love through his confrontation with Job, and out of it a new relationship
between God and humankind is born."[3]

Editions
Rascher (1953, 1961, 1967)
Walter Verlag (1985) ISBN 3-530-40768-2
Dtv Verlagsgesellschaft (1990) ISBN 3-423-35121-7; (2001) ISBN 3-423-35171-3
Translation: Hull, R. F. C. 1973. Psychology and Religion, The Collected Works of C. G.
Jung 11. Princeton University Press. 1973. ISBN 0-691-01785-9.

References
1. Storr, A. 1973. Jung. Fontana Modern Masters Series.
2. Spong, John Shelby. 2011. Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. p. 164.
 3. Stein, Murray (1999). Jung on Christianity (https://books.google.com/books?id=PUNM6v_W
9FYC). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 285. ISBN 0-691-00697-0.

Further reading
Paul Bishop, Jung's Answer to Job: A Commentary, Brunner-Routledge (2002) ISBN 1-
58391-240-1
Storr, A. (1973). Jung. Fontana Modern Masters Series.

External links
Review of Jung’s Answer to Job: A Commentary by Paul Bishop (http://www.cgjungpage.org/l
earn/articles/book-reviews/797-jungs-answer-to-job-a-commentary) Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20191007172104/http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/book-reviews/797-j
ungs-answer-to-job-a-commentary) 2019-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
Online excerpt of Answer to Job (http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/4801.htm)

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