The book Jonah - a paradigm of the 'hermeneutics of strangeness'
Abstract
The Old Testament book Jonah provides for a unique hermeneutical study of strangeness. The context and questions pertaining to it are considered, focussing on the strangeness of events and characters as they present themselves to a modern-day secular reader. In both early Christianity and folktales the miraculous was readily accepted, while the distinction between fiction and reality is a relatively recent development. The book Jonah with its moral lesson, also called a Midrash, is significant for studying this tradition. This intricate text, having technical similarities with the contemporary novel, emanates from an extraordinary and competent narrator and can be seen as the prototype of the modern novel. The questions to which the text offers some answers are posed and some differences between the book Jonah and the secular novel are discussed.
Opsomming
Die Ou-Testamentiese boek Jona dien as 'n voorbeeld vir 'n ondersoek na die hermeneutiek van vreemdheid/eienaardigheid. Daar word aangetoon hoe die teks die hedendaagse leser met verskillende vreemde aspekte konfronteer. Die konteks en vrae daaromheen word ondersoek. Hierdeur word aandag gefokus op die vreemdheid wat 'n geestelike teks verkry wanneer dit deur 'n ongelowige van ons tyd gelees word. In sowel die vroee Christendom as in volksverhale is die wonderbaarlike geredelik aanvaar, terwyl die onderskeid tussen fiksie en werklikheid 'n relatief onlangse ontwikkeling is. Die boek Jona kan beskryf word as 'n vertelling met 'n sedeles, ook 'n Midrash genoem, en is betekenisvol vir die bestudering van hierdie tradisie. Die teks van die boek Jona, waarvan die verwikkelde struktuur ooreenkomste toon met die vertelstruktuur van die hedendaagse roman, gee blyke van 'n buitengewoon begaafde verteller. Die vrae waarop die teks antwoorde verskaf, word aangedui en daar word ingegaan op die verskille tussen die boek Jona en die latere romantradisie.
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