Query. Job: History or Parable?

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I could see the Book of Job as a factual account that has been organized into a poetic format.
I could see it as a story composed to teach an important pastoral lesson.

I solicit the opinions of others on this subject.
If anyone directs me to an official Church declaration on this point, I will be grateful: but I’m also interested to hear what others think and their reasons for it.
 
The Catholic Visionary Anne Catherine Emmerich; claimed Job was a real person. His story “The Book of Job” was written and modified a couple times; including Solomon producing a version. Most Likely the one we have now, if you believe Emmerich.
 
Serpent_of_Paradise said:
The Catholic Visionary Anne Catherine Emmerich; claimed Job was a real person. His story “The Book of Job” was written and modified a couple times; including Solomon producing a version. Most Likely the one we have now, if you believe Emmerich.
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I’ve read of Emmerich, and consider her genuine.
So now I have two witnesses who say Job was real. Aquinas and Emmerich. By the testimony of two or three witnesses…🙂
 
History. Job was a real man who really did lose everything and then spoke with God.

He is a Saint, so there must be a person who corresponds with that story who is in Heaven. I believe determining Sainthood is considered one of the “inerrant” functions of the Church.
 
It’s doesn’t matter, either way the story of Job is valuable. The Bible is not meant to be a history book.
 
thephilosopher6 said:
It’s doesn’t matter, either way the story of Job is valuable. The Bible is not meant to be a history book.
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True that. Holy Scripture is many books, not all in the same genre. One ought not to read the Psalms and the Book of Acts in the same way; or at least one ought not to interpret them in the same way.
In any case my query has been answered. Job is a real person; his story happened even if the account has been told in poetic form.
 
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I am going to dodge the question and go with myth. I would bet, just by the way it reads and when it was written, this was an oral story passed down to present a lesson on trust in God in all things. What St. Aquinas says has a ring of truth to it, that Job was a real man. I do not see the necessity of believing or disbelieving that the story unfolded as written though, that is, fives in a circle talking. The conversations have a feel of a literary device.
 
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