Author Archives: Tyler F. Williams

Jonah’s “Big Fish” Story 2: Resources for the Study of the Book of Jonah

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There are a number of excellent resources for the study of the book of Jonah. While this post is by no means exhastive, I have tried to highlight the primary resources. Feel free to add your own opinions in the comments.

Hebrew Helps

For those just learning Hebrew, there are a number of aids to help you work through the Hebrew text of the book of Jonah (For more general Hebrew aids, please see my “Mastering Biblical Hebrew” pages). There are three resources that facilitate the rapid reading of biblical texts (I have included links to PDF excerpts with the book of Jonah as examples).

The Old Testament Parsing Guide parses and provides an English gloss for every verb in order of their occurrence in the biblical text, while A Reader’s Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament provides an English gloss (from BDB) for words that occur less than fifty times in sequence of chapter and verse. The most comprehensive work of this kind is the Analytical Key to the Old Testament. This four volume work parses, translates, and provides a cross-reference to BDB for all forms (verbs, nouns, particles, etc.) as they occur in the biblical text.

Another handy aid for translating the book of Jonah is

  • Norm Mundhenk, Eugene A. Nida, Brynmor F. Price, A Handbook on the Books of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah (UBS Helps for Translators; United Bible Societies, 1993). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

Commentaries

Jonah-Sasson.jpgThere are many excellent commentaries on the book of Jonah. These are written from a variety of different theological and ideological perspectives for audiences of different levels (for a discussion of the theological perspective and intended audience of some of the main series, see here).

Jonah-Allen.jpgThe critical commentaries by Limburg, Sasson, and Simon, and Wolff all have their strengths, though if you had to only choose one I would highly recommend Sasson. I have worked through Sasson again and have come to appreciate his careful eye for detail as well as his sober exegetical judgment. In addition, his commentary is a wealth of information of how Jonah “Big Fish” story grew with its retelling. Limburg is good, albeit brief.

There are a number of good comentaries that are based on sound scholarship yet offer theological depth and insight. These would include Achtemeier, Allen, Bruckner, Roop, Stuart, and Trible. My pick for top pastoral commentary, however, is Allen’s work in NICOT, primarily for his balancing of scholarship and theological reflection. In this regard, Trible is a close runner-up. Good commentaries for a popular audience include Bruckner, Baker et al, and Nixon.

(See my “Old Testament Commentary Survey” for more information on these and other commentaries).

Monographs

There are many interesting monographs on the book of Jonah. Most of these are more academic, though Trible‘s work is an accessible guide to rhetorical criticism that uses the book of Jonah as an extended example. On a more scholarly level, I recommend all of the other works. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight the work of fellow Edmontonian, Ehud Ben Zvi. His collection of essays is well worth a read.

Next in the series, we’ll look at Jonah chapter 1. Stay tuned.


Films with Faith: A Recent Article

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The Philidelphia Inquirer has a brief article by Kristin E. Holmes entitled “Films with Faith: Several Groups Picked their Top Movies Based on Spiritual and Religious Content, [and] Values.” In the article, Holmes underscores the revival (!) of interest in religious or spiritual films by production companies. According to Holmes, a “spiritual film” has content that “may include the exploration of a person’s humanity, or the fight between good and evil, redemptive storytelling or overtly religious content.” She even quotes my good friend and film-viewing buddy, Tim Willson, as saying, “Fox, Warner Bros. and Sony are among the studios aggressively pursuing the faith-oriented market” (Nice quote Tim!). (Tim is the marketing director for Crown Video, a distributor of Christian-themed films and videos based here in Edmonton).

Some of the groups those who have recently picked their best movies of 2005 she mentions in her article include:

Of course, I am shocked and appalled that she did not mention my own list (see my post, “Essential Films of 2005 for Theologians – Extended Edition” as well as “Movies Worth Watching“). Perhaps a bit more surprising is that she failed to mention the Faith and Film Critics Circle Best of 2005 Awards.

An issue that Holmes raises in her article is the desire of movie studios to cash in on the popularity of religous films — especially since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Of course, the challenge is to make films that are both spiritually significant and good! She also noted the controversy in religious circles surrounding Brokeback Mountain and the tension between recognizing merit in a film in which you may disagree with its content or overall message.

It’ll be interesting to see what controversy The Da Vinci Code will generate when it is released on May 19 (as if the film could generate any more controversy than the book!)


Jonah’s “Big Fish” Story 1: An Introduction to the Series

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I have always enjoyed working through the book of Jonah with my Hebrew students. The book is a great introduction to Hebrew grammar, syntax, narrative, and poetry — and it is short enough to translate and discuss in a few weeks. But beyond the heuristic value of translating Jonah for beginning students of Hebrew, the little prophetic book also raises a number of big of interpretive and theological issues that make for great discussions. Jonah is a great example of literary artistry in the service of ideology, a great example of the importance of genre for interpretation, and great example of the significance of the history of interpretation, among other things. Who would have thought that a “big fish” story would have generated such interest! In a number of posts I hope to explore some of these issues.

Here’s the plan for this series: after I provide a post highlighting some resources for the study of Jonah, I will work through the book of Jonah in Hebrew with a series of posts leaving chapter two until the end (as my class is introductory Classical Hebrew, I want to leave the poetry for after the prose). Only after working through the book, will I post on some interpretive issues surrounding the book of Jonah.

So get your fishing rods… we’re about to catch a big fish!


One Year Blogiversary & 40,000th Visitor Contests

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Things in my little universe are converging. The visitor count for my blog is approaching the magic 40,000 number. My one year blogiversary is also approaching on April 8, 2006. What is more, my own 40th birthday is fast approaching (I was born on the morning of April 1st, 1966 — and yes, I know that is April Fool’s day! And yes, I know how appropriate people who know me think that is! :-)).

At any rate, if I have done my math right, it may be possible to reach the 40,000 visitor mark on my actual 40th birthday! This will mean that my vistor count will also have to be a bit above average for the next three weeks. In order to meet this goal and to reward my 40,000th visitor, I have decided to have a couple contests.

Tell-A-Friend about Codex Contest

First, in order to raise my visitor count to ensure I hit 40,000 on or before my birthday, I am going to have a “Tell-A-Friend about Codex Contest.” The rules of the contest are simple:

  • Email a friend about Codex: Biblical Studies Blogspot — whether about the blog in general or about a particular post that you liked — and tell them to visit. The email should say something about my blog (“It’s the greatist thing since sliced bread”) and include the url to the blog (https://three-things.ca/blog). Here’s the catch: you need to CC me the email at “contest[at]biblical-studies[dot]ca.” The cc’d email will constitute your entry. (Remember to CC me or I won’t know you entered.)
  • Then after 12 noon on my 40th birthday (April 1, 2006, MST), I’ll pick an email completely at random from the cc’d emails sent to the above address and, presto, that individual will be the lucky winner. (Don’t worry, these emails will only be used to pick and contact a winner of this contest. I promise.)

So get those emails going! And remember to tell them to visit us here at Codex! Feel free to email as many friends/enemies as you want or have — multiple entries are more than welcome! (BTW: email lists will only count as one person!)

In addition, a post on your blog with a trackback or a link back to this entry or this blog will also constitute one entry. All you need to do is email me at at “contest[at]biblical-studies[dot]ca” and let me know about the post.

40,000th Visitor Contest

As I have done in the past with my 10,000th visitor (see here), whoever is my 40,000th visitor will also be a winner! There is not much you can do but visit here often and perhaps even read something! Once I have hit the 40,000 mark, I will blog the time and location of the lucky visitor and then they can contact me via email and verify with their IP address. To be fair, I will change my site meter icon once we get closer to the 40,000 mark so that no one just sits there refreshing the webpage!

The Prizes

The lucky winners will be able to select a free book from a number of possible options (that I will provide you) that relate to the focus of this blog (e.g., Biblical Studies, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Classical Hebrew, Faith & Film, Religion & Popular Culture, etc.).

Stay tuned for contest updates and good luck to everyone!


Fractures in Genesis: Karamat on Carr

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Kevin Wilson over at Karamat has a good review of David Carr‘s book, Reading the Fractures of Genesis: Historical and Literary Approaches (Westminster John Knox Press, 1996; Buy from Amazon.ca or Buy from Amazon.com).

While it has been a few years since I read Carr, I can say that this is an excellent work on contemporary source criticism of the book of Genesis. Carr takes an approach that tries to balance traditional source criticism and synchronic approaches (or at least take them into consideration). At any rate, if you are interested in source criticism of the book of Genesis, take a look at Kevin’s review and then take a look at Carr for your self.