Job

I brought up the subject of the book/story of Job for a reason. Some believe that every story in the OT is true, and literal. The fundamentalists usually don't have a very good knowledge of the history of the individual books, their place in the timeline, reason for being incluced, etc. Therefore, Genesis is true, Noah is true, etc. It's ironic that Jews don't take these same stories literally. At least according to some speakers I have heard. Any thoughts on the subject?

Mark Norby said:

I brought up the subject of the book/story of Job for a reason. Some believe that every story in the OT is true, and literal. The fundamentalists usually don't have a very good knowledge of the history of the individual books, their place in the timeline, reason for being incluced, etc. Therefore, Genesis is true, Noah is true, etc. It's ironic that Jews don't take these same stories literally. At least according to some speakers I have heard. Any thoughts on the subject?

I would argue that there are many fundies with very good knowledge of the history of the books in the Bible. I know there are those who act like the King James was handed out of the burning bush, but there are many who know better.

Personally I read as much as I can about each book. Job is an example of a book that I believe to be a story and never intended to be true. Genesis, I believe, was intended to be factual. IMO, even within the "intended to be factual" there is a lot of room for discussion as to what was really meant and/or who wrote the text.

I do not know what Jewish people think is fact or not. I would assume that the opinions are as mixed as any other religion, but in general they think the Canon is factual, which includes the creation and flood accounts. Any Jewish folks out there that want to comment?