The Honeymoon Is Over: Jonahs Argument with God

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.

The Honeymoon Is Over is an imaginative, challenging, and readable book for a general audience. However, the end of the book provides alternative understandings of the readings from Jonah, making it of value to scholars and preachers who may wish to explore such possibilities.

T. A. Perry holds a PhD from Yale and is professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut. He taught Jewish studies and linguistics at Ben Gurion, Loyola, and Hebrew University, and has done post-doctoral work in Near Eastern and Judaic studies and in Hebrew Bible at Brandeis and Hebrew University.