Description
Living a Job Faith: From Tried to Triumphant by Paige Lanier Chargois dramatically draws in readers to the Hebrew Bible story of Job. Using imagery from the courtroom, Chargois brings Job’s spiritual trials to light for the 21st century. Witness how Job survives massive loss, overcomes the doubt of his friends, and emerges triumphant through his unshaken faith in God. Learn how Job’s example can inspire us to persevere in faith through hard times, reassured that God is with us in our most difficult moments.
Reviews
“Paige Lanier Chargois draws each of us into the Job experience by skillfully showing that Job’s journey is our journey, both in our individuality and corporately as the church. As with Job, we must move our faith in God from a transactional experience in which we approach suffering by asking “Why Me” to a deeper dynamic relationship with God that allows us to ask, “Why Not Me.” Like Job, we have many questions about God’s involvement in our life experiences. Chargois posits that these questions are a necessary part of the faith journey to a meaningful relationship with God. Reading this book will challenge you to explore that dynamic.”— Rev. Dr. Patrick F. Hunt, Pastor, Heritage Congregational Church, Berea, OH
“There are times in almost everyone’s life when trials seem to be never-ending. How do we persevere? Whether reading to survive, in preparation for uncertain trials in our future, or to help a loved one through current trials, we can learn valuable lessons from the Book of Job. Paige Lanier Chargois takes us on a personal, faith-building, enriching walk with Job in this book. From Chargois’s life and life lessons, we can learn much, not the least of which is the value of true lament, which can deepen our spiritual life.”— Everett L. Worthington, Jr., PhD, Author of Forgiving and Reconciling: Bridges to Hope and Wholeness (IVP)
“This book is for all who have felt annoyed at God’s slowness in ending our world’s pain and at God permitting the innocent to suffer. Paige Chargois’s tough personal struggles prod her to revisit Job’s paradigmatic faith amidst serial misfortunes. Her scholarly and stimulating probing suggests that more than mere belief, faith is a courageous act, a stand we may take, with God’s grace, when afflicted by disappointment or sadness.”— Rajmohan Gandhi, historian and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
“I have been honored to have the reverend Paige not only as a mentor but also as a friend.
“Join her in this spiritual journey as she delves into the book of Job from a new perspective. She has immersed herself into his life of grief and agony and has emerged from the ash heap with a prophetic need for lamenting in our lives and within the church. Inspiring and thought-provoking, Living a Job Faith leaves her readers with a renewed commitment to faith in God and trust in his will.”— Rebecca Holzer
“From a space of grief and loss, you can allow Job to sit with you as you examine your faith, friends, and relationship with God. Dr. Chargois has blended her personal experiences into this Job narrative—and you can, too. You can find a place to balance body, soul, and spirit from the pages of this book.”— Lisa D. Fisher, LCSW-C, Freedom Pearl Therapeutic Center, LLC
“A notable feature of this book is its ability to help readers contemplate Job’s unwavering faith in God in difficult circumstances. It serves as a valuable resource, offering inspiration and profound insights derived from the story of Job. The book is particularly suitable for faith community members looking to strengthen their beliefs, especially when facing great loss. In a world where faith is tested, Paige Chargois provides a beacon of hope and guidance for a deeper understanding of living faith.”— Reverend Dr. Earl B. and Almon Hall
“Rev. Paige Chargois takes readers on a skillful journey through the book of Job from various perspectives, examining Job’s experience from biblical, historical, cultural, literary, theological, and contemporary contexts. The book is fit ammunition for our faith arsenal as we search for answers amid suffering. Through eleven chapters, she wrestles with the text as thoroughly as Job himself wrestles through the forty-two chapters of his story. As Job experienced God in a new way at the end of his trials, so readers will experience God in a new way through the author’s thoughtful analysis.”— Rev. Olivia M. Cloud, Author, Associate Editor, R.H. Boyd Publishing, Assistant Pastor, Berean Baptist Church, Nashville, TN
“Healing through trauma is a process; it is also a spiritual journey. As a licensed therapist, I endorse this book for those seeking to understand a spiritual process for healing through adversity. This manuscript is no ordinary rendition of a known, ancient story but a fresh re-look with new insights that challenge outdated assumptions. Reverend Dr. Paige Chargois, with concise perception, expertly escorts us through Job’s spiritual pilgrimage from transactional religion toward personal faith. Her itinerary begins with Job’s origin story, contextualized in a Divine Courtroom. On the tour, she directs readers’ attention to best and worst practices for comforting the afflicted, and discovering the miseducation of the woman partnered with Job is a key attraction. Offered as an enlightened rebuke, readers are called to re-understand and re-narrate her story. Paige points out the necessity of existential questions when facing calamity, as shifting from “why me?” to “why not me?” can move the wounded toward spiritual growth and earthly purpose. She walks sojourners through a mental reset–suffering as a normative part of human existence–and provides assurance, through the narrative, of adversity’s redemptive power. A seasoned guide, Chargois spotlights experiences from her own life that connect to essential lessons in the text, and she offers readers practical gifts of wisdom. Most keenly, her spiritual tour through Job’s story shows readers that God often answers one’s questions of God with questions of God’s own toward a key aim: to uncover truths about self that help one “see” God newly, relationally, experientially, personally, and more deeply. Concluding the tour, Chargois suggests the Book of Job invites readers to consider God as the source of wisdom and to embrace and integrate the Almighty’s steadfast love and faithfulness; doing so can help one find meaning and purpose in daily living and relationships. Let the healing begin.”— Stephanie Jacobs, Ph.D., LMFT, Exhortations, LLC | exhortat
"With clear and engaging prose, such a work can only be conceived of or apprehended in the crucible of spiritual experience that results in spiritual maturity to furnish an excellent treatment of the crux interpretum that is the book of Job. Particular attention is warranted for the incisive analysis of the courtroom encounter between a sovereign God and the Satan, and the fresh, pointed (and accurate!) look at Job's wife. This is a fine exercise by the author, and I highly recommend this profound work."— Victor S. Jacobs, Ph.D., Former Professor, Lancaster Bible College/Capital Seminary and Graduate School
“In these troubling and challenging times, Living a Job Faith: From Tried to Triumphant calls the reader to enter Job’s journey and ask the questions Job dared to ask in light of his inexplicable and undeserved suffering despite his meticulous life of faith in God. Job’s questions, frustration and disappoints mirror those of the faithful of this current age. It is both a personal, universal, yet necessary journey that ultimately challenges our notions of suffering and its role in faith development. This author’s monumental statement of faith is helpful for every stage of faith development.”— J. Elisha Burke, M.Div., D.Min., Director, SACRED SPACES, Transitional Ministry Professional, Author: Faith Beyond the Pews: An Experience in Social Action Ministry
“The church and the world need learned clergy. Paige Lanier Chargois is certainly that. Her Living a Job Faith: From Tried to Triumphant invites readers into the life of Job and invites the Book of Job into the lives of individuals and communities through the elegant narrative of an insightful pastor.
“Chargois’ insights demonstrate that she has lived with Job’s text and teaching rather than skimming it out of duty, reading it as a text for critique, or perusing it for preaching nuggets. Her scholarship increases understanding, corrects problematic interpretations, and proposes constructive possibilities for people and the public. She challenges and corrects, for example, misogynistic interpretations of Job’s wife through engaging the actual text rather than perpetuating assumptions about and imposing biases on the text. She does not allow us to sit in the ashes. Instead, she revises popular preoccupations and misunderstandings about lament as complaint by situating lament not as a destination but as part of a journey that includes awe, prayer, forgiveness, reconciliation, and community.
“Dr. Chargois loves the book of Job. One does not often hear that sentiment. Many are confused, disturbed, even irritated by Job. Living a Job Faith shows readers the benefit of engaging the biblical narrative with the narratives of our lives and communities and vice versa. She demonstrates that she drinks deeply from the wisdom of this literature and invites others to do the same. Reminding us to center on the faithfulness of God rather than the suffering of humanity has helped her to grow. Following her lead will help us to learn more of the fidelity and tenacious love of God.”— David Emmanuel Goatley, President, Fuller Theological Seminary
“Paige Chargois' deeply thoughtful exploration of the Book of Job offers a refreshing reorientation of faith that cannot help but turn her readers more fully towards God. By lifting up Job's journey of faith—one built on a foundation of deep questioning and authentic lamentation—she provides a much-needed counter-balance to a theology of shallow certainty and self-oriented prayer.
“Weaving together themes of lament, awe, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Job's movement from despair to hope, Chargois highlights how Job's bold inquiry of God ultimately leads him to a more mature faith. In this way, her insights will resonate with a younger generation skeptical of unquestioning faith—those who are drawn more to questions than to answers, more to dynamic mystery than to static absolutism. She imagines how Job's model of faith development could guide the church today amidst its own crises and challenges.
“Building off Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's famous question, "Where do we go from here?" Chargois emphasizes the power of lament to move us from chaos to community. By making the connections between lament and awe and rightfully putting God back in the center of a life of prayer in a way that invites an "explosion" of lament, she draws us not only back towards God but back towards one another.
“Chargois writes accessibly and authentically, weaving together insights from biblical scholarship, history, theology, and her own rich experiences. For those looking for a relevant and authentic lens on one of the most provocative stories in the Bible, this book is a treasured guide.”— Rev. Lindsey Franklin, Associate Pastor for Development, Richmond Hill
Author Bio
Paige Lanier Chargois, BA, MDiv, DMin, is a retired ordained minister and pastor living in Richmond, Virginia, who serves as a church consultant. A dynamic and powerful preacher and teacher, through 42 years of ministry Dr. Chargois has served on church staffs, as adjunct faculty and as a university chaplain. She is the former National Associate Director of Hope in the Cities-a national and international non-profit committed to racial reconciliation and has authored three books: Certain Women Called by Christ: Biblical Realities for Today (New Hope Publishers, 2008), The Work of the Greeter (Judson Press 2009) and Living a Job Faith: From Tried to Triumphant.