Book of Jonah
I believe that the best argument made in this Prophecy Essay was the one stated by Rabbi Abraham Heschel: "God's answer to Jonah,...stressing the supremacy of compassion, upsets the possibility of looking for a rational coherence of God's way with the world...[B]eyond justice and anger lies the mystery of compassion". I believe that the mystery in the book of Jonah is just that, a "mystery of compassion", because of the fact that in the gospel, God is the only one who can possibly communicate any form of compassion to anyone. The Book of Jonah shows this precisely, as God is, at times, willing to save those whom he deems need to be saved, and at other times, chooses not to save an individual or group of individuals. In religious contexts, it should not be the right of man to deem who or what is deserving of pity, as the Prophecy essay clearly states "Let me decide who is worthy of pity and who is not".
The Book of Jonah was a easy to read selection from the Bible in my opinion. The Prophecy essay, on the other hand, was far too analytical for any use to come out of it. It seems better for the individual to come up with their interpretation of this biblical story, and not be altered through the perspective of a secondary source.
I definitely agree with how easy the Book of Jonah itself was to read ... and the difficulty of understanding the prophecy essay. I agree with the idea that only God should be allowed to show pity towards others because he has to bear the emotional turmoil/brunt of the action. I don't think, however, that God is the only one who can show compassion - people are encouraged to show compassion for one another. I think that empathy, true empathy, can only be experienced by God.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected the Book of Jonah back to mystery, I didn't think about it that way. But by having a secondary source that went much more in depth and has more background knowledge, you can learn something you didn't know. Having you opinion altered isn't always a bad thing, it's simply a product of learning.
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