Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job
JSOTS 223; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996

The term Janus Parallelism describes a literary device in which a middle stich of poetry contains a pun, which in one of its meanings parallels the line that precedes it and in another, parallels the line that follows. This book, a revised version of the author's doctoral dissertation, provides a history of research on the device and details and examines nearly fifty hitherto unrecognized Janus Parallels in the Hebrew Bible (with a specific focus on the book of Job). Consideration is given to the literary purpose of the device and its social significance. In addition, the monograph examines a number of Janus Parallels in extra-biblical texts of the ancient Near East (including Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Arabic, and Medieval Hebrew).

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Reviews

• R. E. M., Old Testament Abstracts 20 (1997), 153-154.
• Stuart Creason, Journal of the American Oriental Society 118 (1998), 602-603.
• David T. Stewart, Journal of Graduates in Near Eastern Studies 8 (1998), 19-20.
• Joel S. Kaminsky, Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies 23 (1998), 110-112.
• Kathleen M. O'Connor, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998), 127-128.

Janus Parallelism Recognized as Important Literary Device:

J. Kenneth Kuntz, "Biblical Hebrew Poetry in Recent Research, Part II," Currents in Religion: Biblical Studies 7 (1999), 35-79, especially pp. 50-53.