“What has preceded in verses 1–37 is designed not to mitigate the harsh circumstances of verses 38–45 but to be a foil to them. In other words, neither commentator allows that the inconsistency with what has preceded may be precisely… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“The other approach, probably more widely appealing in contemporary Western culture, is so to fix on the painful circumstances of life that one gives up on faith. The harsh realities of life show that Christian (or other) faith in God is no longer tenable. It might have been once, when one was a child, perhaps in Sunday school. But when… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share
“Any particular term—myth, legend, saga, folktale, and so forth—tends to be used in so many differing ways by different people that without careful definition… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“On the other hand, there is apocalyptic literature, which appears to be continuous with classical prophecy yet to be a particular outgrowth of it. One of the ways in which apocalyptic literature is most often distinguished from prophecy is in the more fixed and less contingent vision of the future that it envisages. Within apocalyptic literature there are sometimes distinctive… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share
“Similarly, those who have been weaned off the self-aggrandizing attractions of political power are those who can then best be entrusted with it.” — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“If the reader’s imagination is concerned with what happened next to Jonah rather than with the nature of the divine compassion, then the reader… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“Finally, the book of Jonah shows how theological understanding is exemplified in a person’s attitudes and actions: what Jonah does flows from his understanding of YHWH. The more deficient the understanding, the more questionable the actions. So when the task of educating Jonah is extended to educating believers today, it is important not to intellectualize the problems of understanding in… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share
“In this chapter I want to consider a concept, or rather two closely related concepts, where greater-than-usual puzzlement has often been the response of many readers of Israel’s scriptures. I will argue, via some extensive discussion of how best to read the primary passages in which the concepts appear, that what is at stake is the intrinsically difficult matter of… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share
“Nonetheless, Augustine and Pusey are surely clear examples of fighting one’s battle on the wrong ground. They assume that if unbelievers mock and question God’s ability to do the marvelous, then the appropriate response must be to affirm God’s ability to do the marvelous and encourage a stance of reverence. Both elements of the response are indeed appropriate to believers—but… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share
“they play no further role in the story; indeed, any further provision of quails would diminish the importance and significance attached to the bread.11… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“If the paradox is to be pondered, as part of growing in understanding the nature of the life of faith, then there are surely… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“How should this psalm be understood? My thesis is that the parts make sense in relation to the whole: so unless the whole is… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
“The depiction of terrible overthrow may well be, at least in part, a figure for Assyrian and/or Babylonian depredations on Israel and/or Judah, understood… — R.W.L. Moberly Copy Share Image
