The First Dissident: The Book of Job in Today's Politics

by William Safire

One of America's foremost political columnists ties the Book of Job to the news of the day in a provacative exploration of how we can reshape politics by following Job's empowering example.

Genres: Politics, Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speechwriter.

He was perhaps best known as a long-time syndicated political columnist for the New York Times and a regular contributor to "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine, a column on popular etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was probably never meant to endure beyond the window of early to mid-1990s punditry that gave birth to it. There are also unintended moments where Safire's observations on the American voters' tolerance for intimations of adultery, as well as the First Gulf War and the cruelty of Middle Eastern dictatorships, are at times almost comically prescient or no longer valid in light of the careers of Clinton, Bush II, Obama and Trump. But Safire has some interesting things to say about the Book of Job, its place in history and our understanding of the power of someone who does not give in, at least in politics. It also gave me a new appreciation for the construction of Job, the speeches of Elihu, which I previously had not appreciated, and the structure and poetry of God's answer. Safire is not after theology here, though what little of it there is reads well. He at times strains in the direction of the book he wishes Job were rather than what it is. (This genre of Biblical writing - "I don't like the conclusions I see, so I'm going to assume those were added later to change the meaning" - is neither revolutionary nor all that interesting. It reveals more about the writer than the text.) But he also has real observations about the unfairness of life, and how we may endure.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. (Exclamation point.)

I'll have an especially difficult time trying to decide the bookshelf on which I will give this book a home. Religious or political? (For they fall on opposite sides of the wall!) Does it give insight into the Book of Job... or is it a model for citizenship? (Yes.)

Because of this conundrum, this book was perfect for my both religious and political sides. Mr. Safire adeptly fuses the two and brings greater insight to the Book of Job than I have yet heard. I've had a difficult time looking at the Book of Job as a proponent of patience. Because clearly, Job was irked. Without blasphemy (ok, without TOO much blasphemy), Safire handles God's seemingly unfair wager with (the) Satan and explains the outcome that gives both parties a winning part.

In addition to his analysis of Job, Safire perfectly compares modern-day politics and the balance of power between Authority and the governed with the relationship between God and Job. He gives us a candid insiders glance into the workings of the press AND the Executive Branch (though there are moments when he seems a bit defensive and others when he self-aggrandizes - perhaps not without merit).


I will be referring to this book often, both in church and in my political life.



(Oh... and I ended up filing this book on the "politics" shelf. FYI.)

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, I tried to articulate how I feel such identification with the Book of Job. Then came William Safire, a good writer to be sure, but this utterly conservative, self-aggrandizing speechwriter for Nixon with an astoundingly liberal viewpoint of who Job was and how his story fits into today's society. I was shocked with how much I agreed. A resounding statement of human spirit and individuality.

[Judy]

"Upholding the right to be wrong by supporting a dislikeable candidate is called 'casting a clothes pin vote' as if holding one's nose with a clothes pin. p. xviii
"Then I opined more in sorrow than in anger, that Buchanan's dual loyalty insinuation was anti-Semitic. As it surely is, Loyalties, can have crosscurrents,...but must flow to the primary object of allegiance. To impute disloyalty is to make a vicious accusation. But is there a higher loyalty than to that of a country, or a cause or a person? Yes: to the whole truth, to history, and to the highest cause of all, your own integrity - what your conscience tells you Aaa you stand for in life, and without which you no longer feel whole." p. 115
And what did this stiff-necked loyalty to personal honor get Job? It got him back all the things that God could give: his camel's back twice over, his replacement family ....But it also preserved what is was not God's to give, more important to Job than anything else; the stubborn loyalty to his own integrity, we call self-respect." p.110

[Liam Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea for the book exceeds Safire's grasp. His execution is too glib and the modern examples he uses to apply the principles he believes are to be taken from the Book of Job too often read as what he wished were true rather than were.

[Andrew Scholes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not exactly sure what Safire believed about God but I am sure it is not the that God is the omnipotent, omniscient, all powerful creator of the universe. God comes across as unsure if Himself and needing to show His power by overwhelming Job and demonstrating to "the satan" that He can make creatures worship Him no matter what He has done to them.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read. Saffire uses the Book of Job to examine the necessity of people to question authority and the secrets they desperately wish to keep.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective on Job from a former speechwriter and columnist.

[Ramon4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I read the Book of Job last night. I don’t think God comes well out of it." — Virginia Woolf