Job: A Comedy of Justice was published by Del Rey/Ballantine in 1984 and is Heinlein’s most sustained engagement with religion — a comic reworking of the Book of Job in which Alexander Hergensheimer, a devout Kansas fundamentalist, is repeatedly thrown between parallel worlds, losing his money, his identity, and his social standing each time, but retaining his love for Margrethe, a Danish woman he met on a cruise ship. The novel is structured as a test of faith: will Alex’s belief survive the serial destruction of everything he relies on?
The answer, characteristically Heinlein, is complicated. Alex discovers that God exists but is not the deity of his fundamentalist theology; that the universe is more various, more playful, and more merciful than any human religion can accommodate; and that love — specifically his love for Margrethe — is the one thing that survives every catastrophe.
The Theological Argument
Heinlein’s God is not malevolent but playful — a cosmic trickster who tests Alex not out of cruelty but out of curiosity. The novel’s resolution, in which Alex meets several deities and discovers that the cosmic bureaucracy is run with the same petty inefficiency as any earthly institution, is Heinlein’s most sustained comic achievement. The satire of fundamentalism is sharp but not cruel — Heinlein was raised in a religious family and his critique comes from knowledge rather than contempt.
Collecting Job: A Comedy of Justice
First edition (Del Rey/Ballantine, New York, 1984): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $100–$300
- Signed first edition: $200–$600
- Without jacket: $20–$50
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Minimal.
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest. Signed copies should reach $400–$1,000.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a religious novel? It is a novel about religion — specifically about the gap between institutional theology and the actual nature of the divine. Heinlein treats faith with more respect than many expect, even as he savages fundamentalism.
Where does this rank among late Heinlein? It is one of the more successful late-period novels — more focused and funnier than The Number of the Beast or The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. Readers who find late Heinlein self-indulgent may find Job an exception.