SOURCE: “Human Suffering in Lamentations,” in Revue Biblique, Vol. 90, No. 4, October, 1983, pp. 534-55.

In the following essay, Moore critiques attempts at finding unity in Lamentations and contends that its theme and structure work together to express grief and promote hope.

Among most recent studies of the theological import of Lamentations, the approaches of Norman Gottwald¹ and Bertil Albrektson² have dominated discussion. It is Gottwald's view, first of all, that a single “key” to the theology of Lamentations can be found—a position which is problematic from the very outset.³ Secondly, Gottwald believes that this “key” to the theology of the book is to be found in the tension between deuteronomic faith and the tragic facts of history underlying the book. During the Josianic reform the older, more conservative beliefs were re-asserted in certain Israelite circles with regard to the perpetual problem of evil. The deuteronomic solution, according to...