The Signs of Jonah: Reading and Rereading in Ancient Yehud

Description

In this new and refreshing approach to the story, Ben Zvi starts with the premise that Jonah, like most books, was written to be read. He therefore concentrates on intended and unintended readership(s) of Jonah and the network of messages that they were likely to derive through their reading and rereading. He starts with the historical and social matrix of the production and reading of the book in antiquity, analyzes its self-critical approach and its metaprophetic character as a comment on the genre of prophetic books and on prophets. How does the historical fact of Nineveh's destruction acually shape the reading? Or the perception of Jonah as a runaway slave?Ben Zvi demonstrates the malleability of interpretation of the Book of Jonah and its limitations, as attested in different communities of readers. He asks why certain messages are easily accepted by particular historical communities, whereas others are not raised at all.

Ehud Ben Zvi is Professor of (ancient) History at the University of Alberta, Canada.

"The strength of Ben Zvi's approach lies in the understanding of the 'sea of multivocality' conveyed by the book of Jonah, wherein more than one reading is possible within the discourse of its intended and primary readerships. Through a careful study and a nuanced approach, Ben Zvi called our attention to a number of important issues, including especially how the story of Jonah allowed and encouraged it's readers and re-readers to understand the book from more than one perspective and in more than one way." - Kenneth M. Craig, Lees-McRae College, Review of Biblical Literature, July 2004 -- Kenneth M. Craig * Review of Biblical Literature *