The Jonah Complex

Plot

From the Back CoverThis book represents an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the Old Testament narrative of Jonah from theological, hermeneutical, and depth psychological perspectives. It also attempts to render in nonreligious language Biblical wisdom on human nature. While not the first publication to place this Biblical narrative in the third century B.C.E, it is the first work to demonstrate how influential Hellenistic philosophy and literature were upon the book of Jonah. On major contribution of this book is the parallel drawn with the Menippean satire, which shows how Jonah constitues a bridge between the Jewish and the Greek worlds, via Cynicism and Stoicism in particular. Modern psychological literature since Freud and Jung is also used for a better understanding of what the authors call "the Jonah complex"--  an expression coined on the conspicuous model of the Oedipus complex. It is really the meaning of life that is in question, and the tale of Jonah brings an existential message of prime importance.From the book's foreword by Mircea Eliade:"André and Pierre-Emmanuel Lacocque do not elaborate on comparative analysis of such universal themes as resistance to God's call, the sea and tempest, or the symbolism of being swallowed and regurgitated by a marine monster.  On the contrary, their hermeneutical endeavor concentrates on the new, more complex, and deeper meanings susceptible to decipherment in the book of Jonah.  The great merit of their work resides in the minute, delicate, and multilateral analysis of the enigmatic narrative.  They critically examine the different interpretations elaborated by Jewish and Christian exegetes from antiquity to our days; they further discuss a number of contemporary evaluations of Jonah's narrative structure, psychological implications, and religious message.  It is this interdisciplinary approach -- from textual criticism and theology to contemporary psychologies and historical events -- that confers a unique value on the work of André and pierre-Emmanuel Lacocque.""There are few good examples of the interpretation of the book of Jonah with sensitivity to psychological principles and insights...Scholars interested in the psychological interpretation of (ancient) literary texts should definitely be interested in what the Lacocques offer here."-- George M. Landes, Davenport Professor of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages, Union Theological SeminaryAbout the AuthorAndré LaCocque is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Bible at Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, and the founding Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Studies at CTS. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Ruth: A Continental Commentary (Augsburg Fortress), Esther Regina: A Bakhtinian Reading (Northwestern University Press), and the trilogy on innocence in the Hebrew Bible, The Trial of Innocence: Adam, Eve and the Yahwist (Wipf and Stock), Onslaught Against Innocence: Cain, Abel and the Yahwist, and The Captivity of Innocence: Babel and the Yahwist (both from Cascade). He also coauthored Thinking Biblically:Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies with Paul Ricoeur.