[net.sf-lovers] _Job, A Comedy of Justice_

clapper@nadc (01/24/86)

From: clapper@NADC

Christopher Shull <SHULL@wharton-10.ARPA> writes
> ...  From my experience, I have determined that
> because _Job_ is a spoof on religion(s), two types of people will
> not like or appreciate it.  The first group includes people who, in
> my mind, take their Religion and/or Faith much too seriously, and
> are not accustomed to Doubting.  
> 
> The second group includes people who simply have little or no
> knowledge of religions or faith, and therefore lack the background
> required to appreciate the Questions and the humor.

I disagree.  Personally, I liked the much of the religious satire
presented in _Job_, much for the same reasons that Mr. Shull praises
it.  However, the plot more than occasionally meanders, and
(as others on the net have complained) much of the conversation in 
Heinlein's books is too pat and too cute.  On the whole, I found _Job_
to be merely average Heinlein, despite some delicious pokes at
fundamentalist or dogmatic religious beliefs.

By the way, I am an agnostic who is reasonably familiar with religion 
and faith.  (My grandfather is a lay preacher who loves to discuss 
religious issues from an open-minded point of view...)

Brian Clapper
clapper@NADC.ARPA