The question of how we can know God surfaces as a central theme through the biblical texts composed during and reflecting the attitudes of the 6th through the 4th centuries BCE. The challenge of understanding Gods purpose leads to alternative visions of God as increasingly transcendent, as compared to the immanent conception of the divine that dominates the Torah and the Deuteronomistic history. Discuss the evolution of the post-exilic representation of God in one of the following texts in the Bible: Lamentations, Ezekiel, 2nd Isaiah, Ruth, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Jonah.

Please try to identify your thesis and main points in your introduction and in the topic sentences of your middle paragraphs. Your argument must have a clear logical organization in order for me to appreciate the validity of your point of view. Outline your ideas before writing and then double check them after you have completed your first draft. If your main points are not fully apparent and if they do not obviously connect to each other and to your thesis, you need to revise your essay.