The Reason of Job

Scott R. Cherry calls himself a "street" philosopher and theologian, meaning that he is adept in both fields in a nonprofessional capacity and is continually learning. He makes his living as a cross-cultural "E-pologist," or an intellectual evangelist. He is a nontraditional undergrad student at UM-Dearborn and PhD candidate specializing in the philosophy of Thomas Reid and Al-Ghazali.

The story of Job is probably the most heart-wrenching and pervasive story of suffering that is often included in philosophical discussions on the problem of evil. Job was a highly regarded man of God in both Christianity and Islam, and an undisputed prophet in Islam. Both religions have overlapping scripture about him in our holy books, as well as tradition. This is also true of other prophets from the Tanakh, or the Old Testament of the Bible. It contains the book by his name with forty-two chapters, and a fair amount of content that is unique to it. The Reason of Job explores what this author believes is the main reason for Job's suffering and restoration, plus the restoration of his four friends. It then, through the lenses of the Bible and Islamic literature, examines many other prophets or saints to trace their common qualities, experiences, and motifs pointing to the prefigured Messiah.