In this refreshing and thoughtful interpretation of the biblical book of Jonah, T. A. Perry seeks to recover the book's prophetic thrust: how Jonah is cast out from the divine Presence and works his way back—like Elijah—in a love story of rejection and reconciliation. This book explores the role reversal of Eternity and Jonah and suggests the possibility that God can not only change his mind, but even be educated.

The Honeymoon Is Over seeks to recover the central love story of the Book of Jonah. For Jonah is, at its core, a tale of rejection and reconciliation as Jonah is cast from the divine Presence and works his way back. In the relationship between God and Jonah, we witness a reversal of roles, as Eternity is portrayed as being in love with the works of time, while the enamored prophet cannot separate from the Eternal. Beyond standard theological issues such as repentance and prayer, the Book of Jonah provides discussion on questions of great interest to modern readers: suicide and assisted suicide, near-death experiences, mere survival and existence conceived as theological imperatives, the moral capacity of animals, erotic theory, universalism or outreach to Gentiles, and the possibility that God can not only change his mind but even be educated. Literary research also offers new answers to the difficult question of Jonah's genre, by suggesting how the book may be read as a pastoral novella and a tale of the fantastic.

The Honeymoon Is Over seeks to recover the central love story of the Book of Jonah. For Jonah is, at its core, a tale of rejection and reconciliation as Jonah is cast from the divine Presence and works his way back. In the relationship between God and Jonah we witness a reversal of roles, as Eternity is portrayed as being in love with the works of time, while the enamored prophet cannot separate from the Eternal. Beyond standard theological issues such as repentance and prayer, the Book of Jonah provides discussion on questions of great interest to modern readers: suicide and assisted suicide, near-death experiences, mere survival and existence conceived as theological imperatives, the moral capacity of animals, erotic theory, universalism or outreach to Gentiles, and the possibility that God can not only change his mind but even be educated. Literary research also offers new answers to the difficult question of Jonah's genre, by suggesting how the book may be read as a pastoral novella and a tale of the fantastic. The Honeymoon Is Over is an imaginative, challenging, and readable book for a general audience. However, the end of the book provides alternative understandings of the readings from Jonah, making it of value to scholars and preachers who may wish to explore such possibilities.

This is the first book to systematically investigate the texts in the Hebrew Bible in which a character expresses a wish to die. Contrary to previous scholarship on these texts that assumed these death wishes were simply a desire to escape suffering, Hanne Løland Levinson employs narrative criticism and conversation analysis, together with diachronic methods, to carefully hear each death-wish text in its literary context. She demonstrates that death wishes embody powerful, multi-faceted rhetorical strategies. Grouping the death-wish texts into four main rhetorical strategies of negotiation, expression of despair and anger, longing to undo one's existence, and wishing for a different reality, Løland Levinson portrays the complex reasons why characters in the Hebrew Bible wish for death. She concludes that the death wishes navigate the tension between longing for death and fighting for survival - a tension that many live with also today as they attempt to claim agency and autonomy in life.

Substantial insights into various identity discourses reflected in the biblical prayers This collection of essays from an international group of scholars focuses on how biblical prayers of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods shaped identity, evoked a sense of belonging to specific groups, and added emotional significance to this affiliation. Contributors draw examples from different biblical texts, including Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Psalms, Jonah, and Daniel. Features Thorough study of prayers that play a key role for a biblical book’s (re)construction of the people’s history and identity An examination of ways biblical figures are remodeled by their prayers by introducing other, sometimes even contradictory, discourses on identity An exploration of different ways in which psalms from postexilic times shaped, reflected, and modified identity discourses

In the new Hermeneia volume, the Jonah translation and commentary, renowned biblical scholar Susan Niditch encourages the reader to investigate challenging questions about ancient conceptions of personal religious identity. Jonah's story is treated as a complex reflection upon the heavy matters of life and death, good and evil, and human and divine relations. The narrative probes an individual's relationship with a demanding deity, considers vexing cultural issues of "us versus them," and examines the role of Israel's god in a universal and international context. The author examines the ways in which Jonah prods readers to contemplate these fundamental issues concerning group- and self-definition. In her technical study of Jonah's language, style, structure, content, and context, Niditch examines the text through the comparative lens of international folklore. The thread of appropriations of Jonah by post-biblical writers and artists is explored, and special attention is paid to rabbinic midrash, medieval Jewish manuscript illuminations, and Christian art of late antiquity. And in the tradition of Hermeneia volumes, the commentary evaluates and incorporates the insights of a long legacy of scholars who have explored this venerable text from varied perspectives.

There is an inherent desire in all of us to know that our lives really matter. We were created to flourish. Unfortunately, many of the models or aspirations of flourishing from our culture are limiting. This is because they are disconnected from God's original design for us. We flourish most when we find our lives in the overflow of what God is doing in this world. God is a missionary God. Throughout the Scriptures, God again and again, invites his people to be on mission with him. The story of Jonah in the Hebrew scriptures is one of God's most graphic callings. It is a midcourse correction for the children of God. It is also an invitation to all of us to ask if we are on mission with God. After exploring the story of Jonah, Jonah and Me, will unfold a biblical theology of mission. Beginning in Genesis and moving through Revelation, using the larger themes of being chosen, called, and commissioned, we will see how God has been inviting his children to be on mission with him throughout the ages. Finally, the book will offer suggestions on how to discover, rediscover, or simply reenergize in your life mission.