A Gracious and Compassionate God

1 Left In Stock

Description

The book of Jonah is arguably just as jarring for us as it was for the ancients. Ninevah's repentance, Jonah's estrangement from God and the book's bracing moral conclusion all pose unsettling questions for today's readers.

For biblical theologians, Jonah also raises tough questions regarding mission and religious conversion. Here, Daniel Timmer embarks on a new reading of Jonah in order to secure its ongoing relevance for biblical theology. After an examination of the book’s historical backgrounds (in both Israel and Assyria), Timmer discusses the biblical text in detail, paying special attention to redemptive history and its Christocentric orientation. Timmer then explores the relationship between Israel and the nations—including the question of mission—and the nature of religious conversion and spirituality in the Old Testament.

This New Studies in Biblical Theology volume concludes with an injunction for scholars and lay readers to approach Jonah as a book written to facilitate spiritual change in the reader.

CONTENTS

Series preface
Author’s preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
What is the book of Jonah?
Approaching the book of Jonah

1. The nations and mission in Jonah
Universalism
The nations
Israel between universalism and mission
A definition of mission in the Old Testament
Mission in Jonah?
Mission from Pentecost onward
Evaluating contemporary approaches to mission
Mission and the priority of the gospel

2. Conversion and spirituality in Jonah and in biblical theology
Conversion in biblical theology and in Jonah
Abram’s faith
Abram’s repentance