Arguments and debates often degenerate into character attacks or the demeaning of persons rather than the substantive issue originally being discussed. This happened in the case of Job and his friends in today’s reading (Job 15:1-18:21).
The term “ad hominem” has come to mean “marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made” (click here). The ad hominem argument is current in our discourse, but it is not new. Let us avoid this type of interaction. It didn’t help Job and his friends. It won’t help us either.
[For more reflections on this passage see the corresponding reading in my book Cover to Cover: Through the Bible in 365 days].
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