The Honeymoon Is Over

Plot

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.