ABSTRACT

The story of Jonah, often read as a simple children's story, is a multifaceted and elaborate narrative with serious intent. Treating the biblical book as a fictitious story based on real locations and recognizable persons, 'Jonah's World' examines the background to the story and draws on social science approaches to describe its imaginative world. The book explores the geography, theology, myth, human characters, natural landscape, and the ideology behind the story to uncover a vision of reality shaped by literary technique. Jonah's World will be invaluable to students and scholars seeking a new approach to the reading of this colourful text.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

chapter |12 pages

A Scribe's-Eye View

chapter |19 pages

An Imaginary Real World

chapter |19 pages

The Divine Realm

chapter |22 pages

The Human Dimension

chapter |15 pages

An Unnatural Nature

chapter |12 pages

A Moral Universe?

chapter |13 pages

Reality as Fiction

chapter |9 pages

The Story Once More