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Document Details :

Title: Profound Anger as an Optic for Reading the Prophet Jonah
Author(s): GREEN, Barbara
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 16    Date: 2006   
Pages: 1-20
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.16.0.2017789

Abstract :
This article centers on the anger of the prophet Jonah, most particularly in ch. 4: How to interpret this phenomenon from the blended angle of biblical studies and biblical spirituality? The author reviews the ways in which various scholars may approach or have read the text: What historical data – whether in regard to the story’s setting or production – is most relevant? What dynamics drive the analogy with which the prophetic book concludes (4:10-11)? How does careful literary work expose the question of what and when the prophet knew of God’s plans? What is the impact of the wider ancient Near Eastern motif of the extraordinary plant or tree of life? What basic relationship pertains in the book between prophet and deity? Utlilizing these various methodological lenses as appropriate, and drawing from pre-critical as well as critical, Jewish as well as Christian reception of the text, the matter of Jonah’s anger and God’s interaction with it is freshly appropriated and offered to readers for their engagement.


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