Jonah: A Psycho-Religious Approach to the Prophet (review)

Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 141 Reviews always exists in the separate intelligences, since they are not material. As a result, they do not cognize external objects. This unity is an essential and pennanent aspect of them. In the case of man, all unity is casual when our intelligence is actual, and this is true only of the theoretical intelligence and not the practical. Intelligence itself is non-material, and it is only when cognizing separate intelligibles that the intelligence completely unites with them, for in that act, two matterless beings unite. Thus, Jospe's assertions on this subject should be more limited and precise. The unity between the intellect, the intellectually cognizing subject, and the intellectually cognized object is permanent and essential only within the separate intelligences. Such unity may exist in our theoretical intelligence only casually, both in cognizing separate intelligibles and in cognizing itself. In effect, the latter two instances may be identical, because while intellecting separate intelligibles and uniting with them, it is as if the intelligence cognizes itself. My intent in these remarks is not to diminish the value of Jospe's work. The author attempts, with great success, to explore systematically the thoughts and view of one of the most important thirteenth-century commentators of the Guide. At present, Jospe is engaged in annotating Falaquera's book "Opinions of the Philosophers." His critical edition will be a valuable contribution to the understanding of that seminal work. Yair Shiffman Hebrew University Jerusalem 919051srael JON AH: A PSYCHO-RELIGIOUS APPROACH TO THE PROPHE T. By Andre LaCocque and Pierre Emmanuel LaCocque. Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament. Pp. xxvii + 264. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1990. Cloth, $29.95. This book is difficult to review, as it attempts an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to the book of Jonah-a "literary, exegetical, psychological and theological analysis." So is it to be judged in terms of the individual methods employed or of the final synthesis? The two wellknown authors, father and son, one a professor of OT, the other a psychia- Hebrew Studies 33 (1992) 142 Reviews trist who has published in psychotherapeutic and existential religious journals, are well-equipped for the task, and the result makes for fascinating reading, even if it does not quite live up to their ambitious intention. Given the best that scholarly opinion can offer about the history of the text of Jonah, particularly the linguistic evidence about its dating, they ask what conclusions can be reached about the political, cultural, and social influences upon it. Accepting a postexilic date, the authors detect Stoic and Cynic influences; define the book as a satire on the Menippean model; and locate it in the third century BCE, a "time of party strife in Judea between the 'Hellenised' (or modernist) Jews, and the Hasidim (or orthodox), strongly opposed to foreign influence on ancestral tradition" (p. 41). They bolster their arguments by asserting the uniqueness of the literary theme (fantastic voyages belonged to the "Greek novel," p. 38) which further implies extra-Israelite Hellenistic influences and sources. The weakest suggestion is to associate the qiqayon, Jonah's "gourd," with the Greek Kukeyon, which "designates in the Eleusinian Mysteries an initiatory beverage made of a barley concoction" (p. 156), thus introducing a concealed reference to the mystery religions. While this is acknowledged to be a somewhat distant analogy, the authors nevertheless pursue this line since they have convinced themselves about the Hellenistic period. The linguistic evidence, however, is nowhere near precise enough. Sea voyages are hardly unknown in biblical texts, even if not developed in a narrative form, and the theme of a prophet reluctant to obey God is already a convention of biblical narrative as the authors themselves note. Moreover, with regard to inner-biblical literary models available to the author, surely the story of Balaam can match our book in terms of theme (the "prophet" in this case attempting to tum God's word to his own purposes), style (irony bordering on satire), miraculous interventions, and even the intermingling of narrative and poetic elements that interact with each other to further the ironic purpose-Balaam speaks poetry, Balak understands it literally. The historical analysis remains unconvincing. The...