Jeb, Job, and Theodicy: A Tale of Two Cathedrals
Theme
There is an enduring quality to biblical story of Job. Job’s story makes clear that the very idea of trying to explain suffering is pointless. Perhaps that is why you struggle with the story – the good that comes his way at the end can’t begin to make up for the suffering Job has endured. He may once again be grateful, he may once again enjoy his life, and he may once again have another family, but he assuredly will carry the scars with him for the rest of his life. He will never be the same again.
What makes the story of Job particularly enduring? Because it is real life. No matter how much good may come our way after suffering, and no matter how much we make peace with our troubled pasts, we still go through life and come out walking with a limp. Suffering never has an easy explanation, and no matter how much we recover, heal, and try to move on, our suffering shapes us in unspeakable ways.
If you read or listen to President Bartlet’s “Two Cathedrals” monologue in its entirety (see end of chapter for the full text), with the Latin translations, I suspect you may wince multiple times. Perhaps you are offended by his reaction to God. But then we must ask this question: Are we offended because God is offended by our questioning? Or are we offended because we have been taught that we shouldn’t confront God?
President Bartlet’s monologue must be understood within the context of the full episode. In the midst of his pain, grief, and suffering, he does not question his belief in God. Rather, he calls into question how God operates in relation to the world. He calls in to question how a all-powerful, all-merciful God can allow a storm to approach a tender ship, or how a drunk driver can kill a innocent woman.
What are we to make of a monologue like this? What are we to make of a man’s brutal and honest truth-telling in response to God? Perhaps we are not to make anything of it at all. Perhaps it is a natural and healthy part of what it is to be human.
In the aftermath of Ms. Landingham’s funeral service, this scene is powerfully authentic. President Bartlet’s releasing of his emotions and unleashing of his anger is brutally honest and almost therapeutic. This confrontation with God provides the President with an outlet for his anger and emotions that appears to be far more honest than the refined prayers and readings at the service.
President Barlet here is living out what is perhaps a paradox of the Christian faith. Unless you question God, can you really believe in him?
In his Theology of the Old Testament, Walter Brueggemann outlines three characteristics of the human in crisis: complaint, petition, and thanksgiving. President Bartlet clearly is engaging in complaint. As Brueggemann notes:
“The complaining person is one who treats his or her troubles as serious and legitimate and not to be accepted as normal. The complaining person refuses silence and resignation, but rather issues a vigorous and shrill protest grounded in the covenantal right to be granted well-being and to be taken seriously.”
President Bartlet’s complaint to God fits echoes the story of Job. Indeed, earlier in this episode the celebrant at the funeral reads from The Burial of the Dead from The Book of Common Prayer: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last, he will stand upon the earth.” These are among the first words uttered in the Episcopal funeral liturgy, and are taken almost verbatim from a speech of Job: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last, he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
Job’s context and sentiment perhaps have been lost in their placement in the funeral liturgy. Job’s full monologue captures his total sense of alienation from God (see especially Job 19:13-22). Job is frustrated because God has been silent in the face protest: “Even when I cry out…I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice” (Job 19:7). The apex of Job’s speech comes with his realization and acclimation that God is his redeemer (Job 19:25). This image of God brings profound hope to the total devastation and suffering that Job has thus far experienced (Job 19:26). It brings hope that Job shall truly see God (Job 19:27). This hope is realized as God answers Job from the whirlwind (Job 38-41) and, as God eventually restores Job’s health and fortune (Job 42:7- 17).
What can be said about suffering in the Book of Job? A consequence of suffering is an understanding and experience of a God who redeems. What the funeral liturgy in the National Cathedral in Washington ostensibly lacks because of the transfer of Job‟s words (Job 19:25) from one context to another is captured in the emotion and tone of Bartlett‟s subsequent charge against God.
Of course, there are many psalms in this vein. There is also Jeremiah 20, in which the prophet accuses YHWH of seduction, force and deception – even rape. And there are the many complaints of Job, who directly accuses YHWH of injustice and unfairness in his treatment. Jeremiah and Job share much in common, including the blunt sentiment (paraphrased): “If I forced you into court, you would rig the system to convict me without cause.”
But that flies in the face of the testimony of Scripture, both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In Romans, Paul is very much aware of the suffering inherent in creation, noting that it groans as it waits for restoration. And the psalms of complaint and petition that litter the Old Testament make clear that our lives and emotions matter as we plead with God to restore creation and banish the pain and suffering of this world so that his will may be done here as in heaven.
If we are to find the light, we must first grope in the darkness. Denying the darkness’ existence – or toning down our description of it – does not make it go away.
“It is the central conviction of Israel that human persons in the Pit may call to the One who is powerfully sovereign and find that sovereign One passionately attentive,” Bruggemann concludes. “That is the hope of humanity and in the end its joy” (491).
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth…” (Job 19:25)
Briefing Room
President Bartlet surely has had better days. The American embassy in Haiti is under siege; news of the president’s multiple sclerosis is becoming public; his party doesn't want him to run for a second term; and his opponents are calling for a special prosecutor to see if he violated any laws by concealing his illness. But perhaps most important of all for this episode, President Bartlet’s long-time secretary Mrs. Landingham is being laid to rest.
The continued struggled the President faces in this episode are reminiscent of the continued struggles faced by Job in the Bible. A good man, a faithful man, is confronted by pain and sorrow and evil at nearly every turn. President Bartlet’s reaction, and our reaction, is indicative of the struggle we all have when it comes to suffering.
Cabinet Meeting
Discussion questions
Additional Viewing
Bartlet’s Monologue
You're a son of a bitch, you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny? “You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,” says Graham Greene. I don't know who's ass he was kissing there ‘cause I think you're just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name? There's a tropical storm that's gaining speed and power. They say we haven't had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year…68 crew. You know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn't even carry guns. Just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers that mail. That's all it can do.
Gratias tibi ago, domine. (Thank you, Lord [sarcasm])
Yes, I lied. It was a sin. I've committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? 3.8 million new jobs, that wasn't good? Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we're not fighting a war, I've raised three children…
That's not enough to buy me out of the doghouse?
Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito? (Am I to believe/accept these things from a fair God? From a just God, an all-knowing God?)
Cruciatus in crucem! (I was crucified on the cross)
Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci. (I was your servant/slave on earth, I was your messenger. I fulfilled my office.)
Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem! (I was crucified on the cross. To the cross (ie, to hell) with you!)
You get Hoynes!