Women and Nature in the Book of Job: An African Eco-Feminist Reading

Introduction

Sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing the impact of climate change. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report indicates that human activities such as mining and deforestation contribute to the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which ultimately results in global warming. ¹ China is responsible for 26% of all the world’s carbon emissions while the United States is responsible for 16%. ² This human abuse of the environment and the biosphere is making life more difficult for all forms of life on earth. Global warming has increased and water levels are rising in many parts of the world. Simultaneously, due to droughts many communities in sub-Saharan Africa have not enough food to survive. ³ If the world warms by more than 2% by the end of this century, life on earth will become difficult and human beings will go into extinction. ⁴

The IPCC report shows that climate change is not gender neutral. It has gender-differentiated causes and effects. ⁵ Women are more severely affected ‘than men due to their social roles as carers and provisioners and in their social location as the poorest and most vulnerable at the bottom of social hierarchy, alongside children’. ⁶ The United Nations Climate Change records,

Climate change has a greater impact on those sections of the population, in all countries, that are most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and/or who have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards, such as droughts, landslides, floods and hurricanes. Women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty, and the majority of the world’s poor are women. Women’s unequal participation in decision-making processes and labour markets compound inequalities and often prevent women from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation. ⁷

There is clearly an overwhelming consensus in the international community that climate change is the single biggest threat to wellbeing of humanity this century. It is a multifaceted problem that requires a multi-sectoral and holistic approach if meaningful gains towards ameliorating it are to be made.

In recent decades, the role of religious traditions and sacred texts in perpetuating the ecological crisis has emerged in research. In several studies, traditional interpretations of the book of Job and of other wisdom traditions were found to support simultaneously the domination of women and that of earth. ⁸ Cyril Rodd, for example, comes to the conclusion that there is no ecological wisdom in the biblical text promoting eco-justice. ⁹ For Rodd, biblical scholars who attempt to mine ecological wisdom from the biblical text fall into the trap of doing eisegesis rather than exegesis. According to Rodd, ancient Israelite farmers were constantly up against animals and other elements of the natural environment that interfered with their efforts to produce crops. Hence, dominion over the environment was a necessity. However, whereas ancient Israelite families struggled to wrestle a livelihood from their natural surroundings, modern communities tend to oppress the environment to the point of endangering both humans and non-human forms of life. Seen from this perspective, John Goldingay is correct in noting that the biblical scholar has to take account of both the historical context of the biblical text and the contemporary situation in which he or she confronts the text. ¹⁰ This view is supported by Justin Ukpong who argues that, in Africa, a life-giving biblical interpretation ought to engage with issues arising from the African context, be it poverty or political oppression. ¹¹ Along the same lines, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza posits that ‘a critical theory of rhetoric insists that context is as important as text. What we see depends on where we stand. One’s social location and rhetorical context is decisive of how one sees the world, constructs reality, or interprets biblical texts’. ¹²

The interpretative process is informed by the world views and life experiences within the community of faith that regard the Bible as a sacred text. The African context and the biblical text interact with each other and are brought into dialogue by the biblical scholar. Sarojini Nadar cogently reasons that the interpreter of the Bible is positioned at the entry point of the hermeneutical circle. Thus, the process of interpretation always takes place within a specific context. ¹³ Given this interaction between biblical text and context, it is important to investigate the role the Bible could play by either supporting or challenging the subjugation of women and the natural world in communities that regard the Bible as a sacred text. Furthermore, it is important to investigate how Western Christianity has supported imperialistic and anti-nature ideologies that have contributed to the domination of women and non-human nature. The present paper achieves this through the reading of the book of Job using an African ecofeminist hermeneutics as an analytical tool.

African Ecofeminist Hermeneutics as an Analytical Tool

Ecofeminism has established that there is a link between the oppression of women and the exploitation of the natural world. Ecofeminist theologians hold that the male elite hold economic and political powers which they use to serve their selfish interests at the expense of women and non-human nature. ¹⁴ The Western modes of biblical interpretation are also held responsible for unfriendly attitudes to the natural world. ¹⁵ Rosemary Radford Ruether observes,

Moreover, in Genesis 2–3, as if to make the gender assumptions explicit, the male is identified with the original male human being, out of which the female is created by the male God and handed over to him as his wife-servant. Contrary to modern feminist apologetics, this is not an egalitarian relation, but one in which the male is the normative human, and the female a derivative auxiliary. Moreover this derivative female is then described as initiating disobedience to God’s command and thus causing the pair to be thrown out of paradise to live an oppressive existence. He is punished by hard labour by the sweat of his brow, while she is punished by painful childbearing and subjugation to her husband. ¹⁶

The patriarchal understanding that the Bible places man above woman and non-human forms of life has contributed to the marginalisation of women and the natural world. Drawing on ecofeminism, an African ecofeminist hermeneutics scrutinises the biblical text, paying particular attention to the oppression of women and the natural world in the African context. Its point of departure is women’s experience of oppression which is interwoven with the marginalisation of the natural world. The task of African ecofeminist hermeneutics includes uncovering ecological wisdom in the biblical text. Thus, the Bible is read from an African ecofeminist perspective affirming that the earth and all its creatures, human as well as non-human, are intimately connected through God’s loving care. It contends that patriarchal writers and redactors of the Bible have underplayed the plight of women and non-human nature in the text. ¹⁷ In the following section the book of Job is analysed from an African ecofeminist perspective.

Testing Job’s Integrity

The integrity of the God portrayed in the book of Job has been questioned by many biblical scholars. Habel argues, ‘The way in which God agrees to test Job’s integrity raises serious doubts about God’s own integrity. He afflicts Job without cause or provocation, and his [sic] capacity to rule justly is thrown into question’. ¹⁸ The writer locates the narrative in the land of Uz. Most scholars assume that Uz was located south of Israel in the region of Edom. ¹⁹ This causes John Collins to conclude that Job was not an Israelite. ²⁰

The meaning of the book of Job and why God allowed the adversary–Satan (ha-satan) to test him is well articulated by Michael Fox:

God neither rewards good deeds nor punishes bad ones. Without expectations of retributory justice, theodicy – the attempt to justify the unjust actions of a just God – ceases to be a problem, for God is morally neutral. The expectation of divine reward and punishment causes frustration and unhappiness. ²¹

There are opposing views among biblical scholars and theologians about the theology of retribution and the restoration of Job in the epilogue. The theology of retribution holds that God blesses good people while the wicked are punished (cf. Prov. 6.20). ²² David Clines interrogates the rationale for the imposition of Job’s suffering. In his opinion, there is an apparent reaffirmation of the principle of retribution at the end of the book of Job. ²³ In the same vein, Kenneth Ngwa argues that there is a return to the concept of retribution in the epilogue after its limitations have been clearly demonstrated in the dialogue between Job and his friends. ²⁴ However, the view that the final speech of Job in the epilogue is a sign of Job’s submission to God by an act of repentance is not consistent with Job’s theology of resistance shown in the prologue (Job1.1–2.13) and in Job’s laments (Job 3.1–26; 29.1–31.40). Both in his laments and in the dialogue with his friends, Job is against the theology of retribution. It is clear in the book that God is not punishing Job for any sin. Rather, God is showing God’s sovereignty as creator of all things.

What has gone almost unnoticed in biblical scholarship on the book of Job until recently, is that patriarchy is at play in the book and that it has shaped the theology of retribution. As Nadar observes, there is sufficient evidence of patriarchal ideologies in the book of Job. ²⁵ Similarly, ecological issues and matters related to women’s economic and social empowerment that have been underplayed by patriarchal editors of the book have also in biblical scholarship received little attention.

A closer look at the book of Job shows that the prologue and the epilogue correspond. The first and last parts, chapters 1–2 and 42.7–17, correspond as prose narration of the story. The form repeats itself. Between the prologue and the epilogue are the dialogues in the form of highly poetic verse from chapter 3 to chapter 46.6 presenting a disheartened patriarch (Job) who argues with his friends and finally with God. ²⁶ Nadar describes the book of Job as divided into prose and poetry. ²⁷ The voice of Job’s wife appears in prose leading many scholars to consider her voice as peripheral to the theology of the book. Nadar rightly contends that the intervention of Job’s wife challenges patriarchy and introduces an alternative theology that runs through the book of Job. ²⁸ This alternative theology challenges the traditional and patriarchal theology which upholds the principle of retribution. The intervention of Job’s wife reflects on patriarchy and the principle of retribution.

Job’s Wife Protests

The prologue introduces a highly anthropocentric patriarchal God who affirms the subjection of women and nature in the service of a male agenda. ²⁹ Job 2.3–10 states,

The Lord said to Satan, ‘very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life’. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the sores of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, ‘Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!’ He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. ³⁰

All the important theological debates seem to take place between men (Job, Job’s friends, a male God and a male Satan). ³¹ God does not seem to care about the plight of Job’s wife, his daughters and the livestock who are implicated in the testing of the patriarch. The text reveals the patriarchal viewpoint of male writers and/or redactors who overlooked the plight of women and of non-human nature. Ackermann and Joyner correctly describe the concept of the chain of command from God to man, from man to women and from women to non-human nature as promoting patriarchal dualism. ³² In this hierarchy, women and non-human beings are assigned to the margins. It is in this context that ecofeminism advocates for a non-hierarchical relationship which is holistic and life-giving.

The wife of Job sets out to protest against patriarchy and its interconnectedness with the ideologies of hierarchy and retribution. She then charges Job to also engage with God by protesting:

‘Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!’ He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ (Job 2.9–10)

If one focuses on the epilogue and the prologue, the voice of Job’s wife stands out as central to the theology in the book. ³³ Job’s wife asked Job to ‘question God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy punishment’. ³⁴ Nadar concludes that the book of Job offers an alternative to the theology of retribution. This alternative, proposed by Job’s wife, is expressed in lament, protest and resistance, and in questioning God about the basis of suffering. ³⁵ Thus, the advice of his wife to protest against suffering and Job’s response to her advice, are important for an understanding of the ways in which patriarchy and the principle of retribution have shaped the theology of the book of Job.

Job’s friends believe in a theology of retribution which upholds that an individual is responsible for his blessings or suffering. ³⁶ Wittenberg notes,

Both Job and his friends ask the question: Why? Why did such a great calamity befall a man who was a wealthy and respected citizen of the community? For Job’s friends the answer was obvious: Job’s illness was punishment for his sins. ³⁷

At the background of the principle of retribution stands the conception of a perfect and just universe in which every human deed is followed by its consequences. Good deeds are followed by good consequences, evil deeds have bad consequences. The person who obeys God’s commandments and lives a just and righteous life will be blessed with prosperity, a good job, a large family, power of fecundity, good harvests and happiness. On the other hand, the wicked person who transgresses God’s commandments will encounter failure, misfortune, and disasters in life. As in nature seeds develop into plants and fruit, so in God’s just and moral universe good and evil deeds are followed, almost automatically, by their respective consequences–reward or punishment. ³⁸

The theology of retribution was developed by the Deuteronomist (Deut. 4.28) who was trying to encourage the adherents of Yahwism to follow the legal codes forged when the Sinaitic (Mosaic) covenant was made. The Decalogue and, by implication, the ethical guidelines became the basis for judgement. Those who followed the ethical guidelines were expected to receive blessings while those who neglected them could expect to receive curses and punishment from Yahweh (Deut 28). This principle is largely supported by the book of Proverbs in Wisdom traditions (Prov. 14.22; 22.8). However, urged by his wife Job argues against the principle of retribution and proves his friends wrong:

Why do the wicked live on, and reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes . . . how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his [God’s] anger? . . . One [a wicked] person dies in full vigor, . . . completely secure and at ease, well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow. (Job 21.7–8, 17, 23–4)

The book of Job shows that protest and lament are proper ways of talking to God in times of suffering. ³⁹ The book reveals that the theology of retribution hinges on the belief in an anthropomorphic, tyrannical and remote God who punishes people for their evil deeds. But in the light of the thousands of innocent women and children in sub-Saharan Africa who are bearing the huge burden of an ecological crisis that is due to poisonous emissions resulting from technological activities in the West, the principle of retribution becomes futile. ⁴⁰ Wealthy Western countries have thus far been reluctant to spend large amounts of money on curbing climate change and alleviating the ecological crisis. To presume that women and children in poor countries in Africa (and Oceania) as victims of climate change are reaping the consequences of their own evil deeds would be to promote injustice. It is this abstract patriarchal notion that Job’s wife questions in her protest.

The notion of a remote God who intervenes in human affairs is problematic in the context of the ecological crisis. The concept of a Deus remotus (remote God) who created the universe from nothing promotes human irresponsibility as regards the natural world. God is seen as being outside God’s own creation. This is so because the material earth is seen as wicked and in need of God’s redemption. As a result, the natural world is exploited. ⁴¹ Underlying the problem of Job’s suffering is the ideology of dominion and the understanding of a monotheistic, omnipotent, and omniscient God who creates ex nihilo. ⁴² The transcendent God allows the Satan to destroy Job’s children and livestock. By implication, the children and livestock are treated as Job’s property the destruction of which constitutes a test of his faith. No consideration is given to Job’s wife as the mother of the children and a co-owner of the livestock. The transcendent God, creator ex nihilo, provides a basis on which human beings can justify their dominion over the rest of nature, even though it is conceived of as stewardship.

Similarly, Christianity and Western patriarchal ideologies have promoted an anthropocentrism that has largely contributed to the current ecological crisis. ⁴³ Theology is also theo-anthropology. Conceptions of God and nature reflect and shape people’s ideas about what it means to be human. The male elite makes selfish decisions at the expense of women and the natural world. The ecological crisis therefore calls for protest and resistance, more specifically from women who are worst hit by the consequences of climate change. As Ackermann notes, contemporary challenges that dehumanise women require that women say it as it is. ⁴⁴ There should be no covering up of the facts. The ecological crisis and its devastating effects should be dealt with openly. For too long religion and culture have been used to silence women. Protest is necessary and life-giving while keeping silent makes women more vulnerable in the context of contemporary challenges such as the ecological crisis. ⁴⁵

The theology of protest and resistance introduced by Job’s wife provides a basis for the empowerment of women in sub-Saharan Africa where women are hardest hit by climate change. ⁴⁶ Women in poor communities are already living on the periphery of the social strata. Women also are in daily contact with the natural world through chores such as collecting firewood, and fetching water from the rivers, and also through their participation in female initiation rites which are conducted in the bush. Ackermann and Joyner correctly observe that poverty, racism, sexism, classism, social dislocation, and rape are forms of violence and as such related to violence committed against the environment. ⁴⁷ Phiri has also noted with concern that marriage in sub-Saharan Africa is at the centre of patriarchy and makes women especially vulnerable in times of social crises, for example, the present ecological crisis. ⁴⁸

Reclaiming the biblical wisdom of resistance and protest against hierarchical dualism is therefore life-giving to women and the natural world. There is also a need to reclaim African cultural values that empower women to raise their voice in protest. For example, in the pre-colonial Bemba society, in what is today Zambia, women were encouraged to protest if they felt that their lives in marriage were under threat, for example, from illness. Women were encouraged not to keep quiet but to share their problems with someone they trusted, in particular the women who had tutored them at initiation schools (banachibusa). ⁴⁹ Given the interplay between patriarchy and the principle of retribution in the book of Job, it is of interest to analyse how the text assigns women and non-human nature to the margins of society.

Job Curses the Female Anatomy and Non-Human Nature

Chapter 3 of the book of Job introduces a disillusioned Job who, instead of heeding his wife’s advice to engage in protest with God, chooses to curse female anatomy and non-human nature:

May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’ . . . may its morning stars become dark; may it wait for delight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn, for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes. Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? For now I would be asleep and rest with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins. (Job 3.3, 9–14)

In almost modern gynaecological terminology, Job curses female anatomy, non-human nature, and the day he was born. Masenya cogently notes that the book of Job reveals the anthropocentric, even androcentric, agenda of the text which affirms the subjection of female anatomy, the subjection of some elements of nature and the summoning of the human womb and the womb of mother earth to fulfil male concerns. ⁵⁰ In other words, Job’s attack on women and non-human nature shows patriarchal power and ideals of masculinity as prevailing in the Ancient Near East (ANE) at his time. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of Job’s father’s role in the process of his conception and birth. Job therefore compartmentalises his mother’s identity as exclusively dependent on motherhood. This exclusive focus on the biological functions of women, while downplaying the biological functions of men, is an obvious feature of patriarchy. ⁵¹ Furthermore, the strong language used in the text designating female anatomy is suggestive. In many cultures in sub-Saharan Africa, it is not only a taboo but also an offence to the ancestors to insult a woman by referring to her anatomy. In Zambian Bemba culture, for example, it is deeply insulting to mention a woman’s genitals or menstrual blood. ⁵² Job’s misogynistic attack on sexuality and female anatomy needs to be further interrogated. Ronald Simkins helps us understand that there was a relationship between the physical body and the social body in the ANE:

The body also served as symbol of the world at large, the totality of the physical and social world of the people’s experience. This was possible because they perceived the physical world as a bounded system with features analogous to the body, and the body as rooted in symbolic of the structures of the social world. The body thus mediated the symbolic relationship between the social [religious] and the physical world . . . this complex symbolic relationship between the body and the world formed the basis of the ancient Near Eastern understanding of creation. Because the body functioned as a model for the world, the procreation of the human body (microcosm) offered an appropriate analogy for understanding the creation of the world and society (macrocosm). ⁵³

Job’s misogynistic language depicts the dominant perceptions about women and the natural world in his community. The Bible text seems to suggest that Job’s misfortunes are the result of female anatomy and sexuality. Women are linked with evil while men are made innocent victims. ⁵⁴ Such misogynist perceptions that contribute to existing tendencies to view women and their bodies as sources of pollution and misfortune have proved lethal to women in the context of the ecological crisis, given that the low status of women has been associated with the subjugation of nature, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. ⁵⁵

It is worth noting that Job’s attack on the female anatomy also hints at the problem of objectification, or treating a woman as a sexual object. King states that treating women and nature as ‘others’ to be appropriated and dominated by men is based on men forgetting that they were born of women and are dependent on non-human nature for their survival. ⁵⁶ Thus, Job finds no solution to his problem and he decides to try his wife’s advice and engage with God in protest.

Job Engages with God in Protest

The epilogue (particularly chapters 38–41) is preceded by the dialogue between God and Job in which Job confronts God. He challenges patriarchy and the principle of retribution (Job 7.19–21; 21.7–8). He argues with God as with an equal:

I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living. (Job 30.20–3)

The book of Job reveals God’s reality as Job has perceived it in traditional and retribution theology. He finally encounters God in person and engages with God in protest. While traditional theology believes in a transcendent God, who keeps outside the daily affairs of human beings, Job shows that God dwells in God’s creation. Therefore, Job engages with God in protest and lament (Job 40.1–5). God, by engaging with Job, equally rejects the hierarchical ideologues of patriarchy and the theology of retribution. ⁵⁷ In the epilogue, God approves of protest, rebellion and resistance as proper ways of relating with God (Job 42.7). And God admits that Job spoke more meaningfully about God than his three friends. Nadar insists that by qualifying protest as an appropriate way of communicating with God, God vindicates Job’s wife because, after all, Job was simply implementing his wife’s advice. Nadar sees in God’s approval an acknowledgement of her role as head of the home. ⁵⁸ What comes convincingly to the fore is God’s demonstration that God dwells in creation and approves of protest and lament as appropriate ways of communicating in times of suffering.

In the dialogue between Job and God, God responds to Job by showing him how God’s presence manifests itself through nature. God makes clear that there is no dichotomy between the material and the spiritual as Job had stated in chapter 3. This view is in agreement with the African worldview that places special emphasis on the interdependence of humankind and non-human forms of life. Isabel Phiri discusses that among the Chewa of Malawi God was known by many names such as Chiuta (rainbow) and Chisumphi (giver of rain), that describe elements of the weather. ⁵⁹ God was worshipped on territorial rain shrines where women served as overseers. The women mediated between God and the community. God was not perceived as anthropomorphic. ⁶⁰ Phiri further notes that it was Western Christianity that worshipped a transcendent God. Chiuta, the God of the indigenes, who identified ‘Godself’ with nature was replaced by a transcendent, male Judeo-Christian God. ⁶¹

Given the relevance of African rituals and cultural practices, it can be argued that Western Christianity is responsible for the anthropomorphic male perceptions of God that have disempowered women and affected their roles in the preservation of nature. Furthermore, Christianity with its dualistic Western ideologies has perpetuated a theology that is anti-nature. The African worldview of humanity and nature is holistic and regards the entities as interdependent. The African worldview differs from the hierarchical dualism that was brought to the continent by Western Christianity and colonialism. ⁶² The focus of Christianity on personal salvation for future life in heaven has resulted in nature being perceived as demonic and in need of being dominated by humanity. As a result, many sacred groves and territorial shrines in Africa have been destroyed. Some of these shrines had in pre-colonial Africa been central to ensuring ecological wellbeing. The African world view does not accommodate the separation of the physical from the spiritual, of God from the cosmos, and of humankind from non-human beings. ⁶³ God is manifest in the features of the natural world and part of the energy of the cosmos. Job 38.1–7 states,

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He [God] said: ‘who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?’

In the dialogue with Job, God demonstrates that there is no dichotomy, no separation between God and the manifestations of the natural world. God reminds Job that human beings ‘are latecomers to the planet. The plants and animals existed billions of years before us. We are descendants of the long evolution of increasingly complex life forms on earth’. ⁶⁴ Human beings were not created to rule, dominate and exploit the earth. The earth governed itself well before human beings were created. ⁶⁵ In the epilogue the book paradoxically confirms non-patriarchal models by promoting gender equality and ecological justice.

Search for Gender Equality and Ecological Justice

The prologue to the book of Job exposes the critical situation and the suffering that can result from unequal power structures in society while the epilogue proposes non-patriarchal models of divine-human and human–human relationships that allow for accountability and healing. ⁶⁶ Collins rightly notes,

We might think, initially, that Job was restored to his original state, with some enhancement. But he ought to have learned something from the experience . . . that all the new found wealth and family that he is given at the end could be lost again in one bad day. Never again should Job be so confident that he would grow old in his own nest, or that other people were not worthy to be put with the dogs of his flock. ⁶⁷

The book of Job deconstructs the dominant assumption in Wisdom tradition that one should not rely on their own experience but on dogma and what their bygone generations have found as stated in Job 8.8. Traditions and beliefs should be re-examined on the basis of their ability to support life. The ecological crisis brings together issues of political governance and inequality in the world today. Women, children and the poor communities in developing countries who make the majority of those who are severely affected by climate change and the ecological crisis cannot be blamed as sinners. They are victims of an unjust economic and political order. This should serve as a basis for the construction of a life-giving biblical theology in the context of the current ecological crisis.

The book promotes equality between sons (men) and daughters (women) by dividing inheritance among them equally. It also promotes a new model of relationships that is not dualistic or hierarchical:

And he [they] also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he [they] named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father [and mother] granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. (Job 42.13–15)

It is worth noting that the decision to divide inheritance equally among sons and daughters represents a reversal of the chaotic situation, caused by the gender imbalances of the time as depicted in the prologue. The Jewish community was largely patrilineal and normally only sons inherited their parents’ property. The choice by Job and his wife to let their daughters share in the inheritance represents a radical change. Karla Poewe states that cultural kinship ties indicate how gender is culturally defined, how gender roles are assigned and how the relationships between male and female are conceived. ⁶⁸ A non-patriarchal community encourages separate but parallel participation of the sexes in the economic and political affairs of the society. In such a community the economic and political contributions of women are accorded great importance and value. ⁶⁹ Thus, the book of Job promotes a non-patriarchal and non-dualistic model of kinship.

Present-day issues concerning land and the economic empowerment of women are not only important but also urgent in so far as they can provide a response to the ecological crisis. The domination of women is interwoven with the exploitation of land, water and animals. ⁷⁰ Women in Africa suffer from patriarchy and the human domination of the natural world that results in poverty. ⁷¹ Reclaiming the interconnectedness of African women with the natural world does, as Moyo suggests, not only restores the erotic power of women as embodied sexual prophetesses but it also holistically retrieves the sacredness and dignity, and the religio-cultural and economic roles of African women. ⁷²

In the epilogue, Job, Job’s wife, God and friends unite to respond to the threatening realities of life. ⁷³ Current threats to humanity such as climate change call for the efforts of the entire global community. The response should lead to a radical transformation, based on the interdependence of the well-being of humankind and of the natural world and on an awareness that the suffering of one person is the suffering of the entire global community. ⁷⁴ Job 42.7 is significant for the ecological crisis and its victims. Gerald West observes,

The shift from verse 6 to 7 is substantial, for we now leave the ‘private’ domain and enter the public domain. We are to imagine, I suggest, an audience of those who have stigmatised and withdrawn from Job (including his community (17:6) and his friends) listening and watching as God takes sides with Job. They then become participants, contributing to and so becoming implicated in the ritual that redeems the friends (and them) and reintegrates Job into his/their community. ⁷⁵

God identifies with the suffering Job and involves the whole community in contributing to the welfare of Job’s family. ⁷⁶ In other words, God stood in solidarity with the stigmatised Job and so did the community.

It is tragic that wealthy countries in the West have been reluctant to invest their resources in the fight against global warming. On 1 June 2017 President Donald Trump announced his decision that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. On 4 August of the same year the US officially informed the United Nations of its withdrawal. ⁷⁷ Under the Paris agreement, countries agreed to keep global temperatures well below 2°C. Wealthy nations committed to help poorer ones financially to enable them to adapt to climate change. ⁷⁸ The United States, under former President Barack Obama, agreed in 2015 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 28% to help slow global warming. ⁷⁹ However, President Trump said the agreement would destroy the American economy, cost its people’s jobs and put the nation at a disadvantage with rival economies such as China and India. ⁸⁰ The Anglican Communion condemned President Trump’s decision:

We call on fellow Christians and all people of faith in the USA to hear the voices of their brothers and sisters who are already impacted by climate change. Our faith calls us to feed the hungry. Today, this means halting those actions which are causing hunger and starvation. We know that climate change means water change – less rain in some areas, devastating flooding in others and sea level rise which threatens our coastal areas and small island states. Without rains, the crops fail and there is famine. Where there is famine people leave their land and end up as climate refugees, which leads to further suffering, social devastation and the risk of increased violence. ⁸¹

The book of Job provides a model for Christians to promote solidarity in their response to climate change and the ecological crisis. Policy makers have to be challenged that confronting climate change and the ecological crisis is their moral responsibility. Politicians, faith leaders and all those who control the global economy should be challenged to make decisions that protect vulnerable people and threatened communities.

Conclusion

This paper argues that Christianity with its roots in the Hebrew and Greco-Roman worlds has perpetuated patriarchy which marginalises women and non-human nature. This is done by presenting a patriarchal God who is outside and against the natural world. The Greek philosophical dualism of spirit and matter has consolidated this construction of God as patriarchal by the male elite who enjoy political and economic power at the expense of women and non-human nature. ⁸²

However, the Bible has profound resources that support responding to the marginalisation of women and to the ecological crisis. Relevant wisdom and resources are implicit in the biblical text. An African ecofeminist analysis of the book of Job demonstrates this, showing how resistance against patriarchy and the principle of retribution have shaped the theology of the book. The paper argues that the voice of protest raised by Job’s wife leads to the deconstruction of the patriarchal ideologies and of the principle of retribution, prevailing in the ANE and depicted in the book of Job. The prologue describes the chaos that results from hierarchical patriarchal power imbalances while the epilogue demonstrates the reversal of patriarchal structures by affirming gender equality and eco-justice. Such a reading of the biblical text is empowering to African women and the natural world in the context of the ecological crisis, given that a patriarchal reading of the Bible has largely contributed to the subjugation of women and the natural world. The African ecofeminist analysis of the biblical text (Job) paves the way for an increased human responsibility in regard to the natural world as it affirms the notion of a web of connections linking the human and the natural realms.