The Sacred Lie

“Of all the revelatory details offered by the Book of Job, the most extraordinary remains the counterpoint of the two perspectives, made possible by the dialogue format; it resembles a theatrical production, the object of which is not catharsis but the disappearance of all catharsis . . . the author manipulates these correspondences too skillfully not to be aware of them. The difference in perspective on the same act of collective violence is the true subject of the Dialogues. The sacred lie of the friends is contrasted with the true realism of Job” (Girard, Job, p. 32).