Chaos and the Human Experience: An Intertextual Study of Job, Qohelet, and Jonah

Hermann Gunkel’s landmark work Schöpfung und Chaos was a pioneering work in biblical studies, largely in part because it highlighted the importance of considering the language, culture, and context of the broader Ancient Near East with regard to Old Testament imagery. While Gunkel’s claims that the Genesis 1 account of creation was borrowing from Ancient Near East myths is now largely rejected, still, the enduring value and legacy of Gunkel’s work is that biblical scholars see the importance of contextual studies in exegeting the Old Testament texts, as well as how to apply the material exegetically to the Old Testament. The thesis of this dissertation is that there remains a purpose and place for the Chaoskampf motif in Old Testament studies. Specifically, this dissertation looks specifically at Job, Qohelet, and Jonah and how the chaos motif is most clearly seen through a canon-conscious juxtaposition and interpretation of these three texts. The Old Testament books of Job, Qohelet, and Jonah present three perspectives on this chaos. This chaos motif, while drawing from ANE literature and employing mythopoetic imagery, is primarily about the experience of chaos within the human experience, specifically human suffering or injustice. In each book, the human experience is steeped in chaos, and YHWH breaks into that chaos with the revelation of Himself and His truth. Thus, these books share a thematic unity that is only seen when the texts are considered together.