Choose Your Poisson: Jonah and the Redemptive Sacrifice

For all of these reasons, I think that the story of Jonah is a dramatization of Israel's self-conceived mission to bring the worship of Yahweh to the unclean world, and its perception of its sufferings as being the result of that mission and their failure to perform it.  Jonah personifies Israel, who has become indolent on the chaotic seas of history as he tries to escape his mission, but he assumes the salvific sacrifice of himself.  Yet the very grave of his suffering is also his preservation.

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Woman Caught In Adultery: Everybody Must Get Stoned

There appear to be a pair of memes in evangelical circles. One is that Jesus was writing the sins of the woman's accusers. Sounds very medieval, and I should see if I can track down a source for that. The other is the question, "Where is the male adulterer?"

Both memes show a persistent misunderstanding of John, I think.

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