Jonah: Introduction and Commentary
Amy Erickson
Publication Date
May 2021
eBook
$55.00
In Jonah: Introduction and Commentary, Amy Erickson reevaluates a range of interpretations of the book of Jonah to present her own fresh literary and theological understanding of the book’s complex themes and characterizations. Drawing on Christian, Jewish, and Islamic reception history of Jonah, including the story’s representations in the arts, literature, and pop culture, Erickson presents a History of Consequences section that spans centuries and crosses borders. Erickson’s translation and interpretation pave the way for pastors and scholars to read and utilize the book of Jonah as the provocative, richly allusive, and theologically robust text that it is. Each passage includes a commentary on linguistic and thematic challenges to interpretation and translation. Erickson’s innovative reading recovers the richness of meaning that belongs to this short but noteworthy book of the Bible.
Amy Erickson is Professor of Hebrew Bible and the director of the Master of Theological Studies program at the Iliff School of Theology. She has written articles on Job, Jonah, the Psalms, Zechariah, and Amos for academic journals, edited volumes, and The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (De Gruyter). Erickson is also a contributor to workingpreacher.org, the Huffington Post ON Scripture, and The Christian Century.
Praise for Jonah: Introduction and Commentary
“Erickson’s impressive and wide-ranging Illuminations commentary demonstrates the astounding variety, complexity, and sophistication of interpretations of Jonah, both past and present. Highlighting interpretations from marginalized communities, Erickson skillfully takes the reader on a grand tour of centuries of diverse interpretations in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other cultural traditions through commentaries, visual art, music, poetry, films, and novels. The author also offers her own scholarly and detailed contemporary reading of the text of Jonah, illuminating the many built-in ambiguities, border crossings, gaps, allusions, wordplays, double meanings, and conflicting character portrayals of God and Jonah. This uniquely generative commentary will become a first-line resource for scholars, students, and religious leaders interested in exploring the inexhaustible richness of the little book of Jonah.”
— Dennis Olson, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Amy Erickson not only offers her own deft analysis of the biblical text but also shows what fascinating impacts Jonah has made across the centuries on readers and hearers. One of the best-known stories in all of the world’s literature sparkles once again in her commentary’s appealing format.”
—J. Andrew Dearman, Fuller Theological Seminary
“Whoever wrote the book of Jonah would love Amy Erickson’s commentary. Like the book itself, the commentary is thought-provoking, elegantly written, and a pleasure to read. If you want to deepen your knowledge of Jonah’s literary artistry, intertextual connections, theological significance, and reception history, this is the commentary for you.”
—Andrew R. Davis, Boston College
“Amy Erickson has written a Jonah commentary that is breathtaking in its comprehensiveness, erudition, and interpretive courage. It will be the go-to study for all subsequent work on the book of Jonah. This book is a tour de force that pays careful and imaginative attention to the thickness, playfulness, and elusiveness of the text, and, as such, it is a durable marker for the work of interpretation to which attention must be paid.”
—Walter Brueggemann, author of The Prophetic Imagination
“This clear and carefully organized volume provides both a detailed commentary and a compilation of an astonishing array of interpretive traditions on Jonah. With invaluable and deeply researched bibliographies in each section, it will prove immensely useful to those interested in the study of prophetic literature, the Book of the Twelve, or the artistry and afterlives of Jonah.”
—Nyasha Junior, Temple University
“What a gift! With this commentary, Amy Erickson brings to bear her considerable skills as a biblical interpreter. She reads perceptively, writes compellingly, and navigates adeptly between linguistic, literary, historical, and theological matters, all while engaging the story’s complex history of consequences. The result is a remarkable commentary that is sure to inform and inspire the future study of Jonah.”
—Christine Roy Yoder, Columbia Theological Seminary
