Well, I wrote “Heresy of Ham” five years ago, and I’m glad to see people still want to discuss it. Below is a recent interview I did for “Sparrow’s Call”–Voices in the Wilderness.
And here is a link to my book, “The Heresy of Ham.” And if you want to see other books and translations I’ve done, allow me…
Christianity and the (R)evolution in Worldviews
I have a number of my own Bible translations as well that you can easily find on Amazon.
Dear Dr. Anderson,
Please, if you can Sir. Please do an analysis of the atheist Assyriologist Dr. Joshua Bowen’s book: Does the OT endorse slavery? He has answered with an unequivocal yes and I think it would be good to hear from the other side’s perspective.
Yours Sincerely,
The Programming Nerd
Dear Dr. Anderson,
I hope you have been well.
I hope you can understand this objection. Some skeptics have been saying that Jonah was a fictional character that is similar to the book of Job. OT Scholar Dr. John Walton believes that Job was a historical character and has written many good commentaries on the book of Job.
As an OT Scholar, would you say that the book of Jonah is fiction. Like an author trying to tell a story so as to teach a lesson, in this case a theological truth. In my opinion, I think Jonah was a historical figure as the author of 2 Kings 14:25 shows.
Would you say that the book of Jonah is a fictional character in the same manner as the book of Job? I would really appreciate your thoughts here Sir.
Yours Sincerely,
The Programming Nerd
Hi there PN,
I actually did my Masters thesis on the book of Jonah. Here’s my take in a nutshell.
Yes, the prophet Jonah was a historical figure mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. He was a prophet of pre-exilic northern Israel. BUT, the BOOK of Jonah is clearly a post-exilic work of the returning exiles of Judah. There is about a 300 time period between the historical figure and the book.
Therefore, the Book of Jonah is not doing history. I see it more of a parable, using the figure of Jonah. It would be like me telling a story about President Obama travelling to Afghanistan in the mouth of a giant stork. Obviously, Obama is a real person, but obviously the story itself is something different.
The POINT of the Book of Jonah is that it serves as a challenge to the returning exiles. God had “resurrected” the nation out of exile–now what would that “resurrected” people of God look like? On one hand, you had the Ezra-Nehemiah types who were insisting that meant to strictly adhere to the Torah and to completely kick out all foreigners to have a “pure” race of Israel, so to speak. But on the other hand, you get throughout the prophets (like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah) the proclamation that somehow Gentiles will come to worship the God of Israel AS GENTILES. How that works out is unresolved by the end of the Old Testament, but that is the thing the New Testament addresses.
At the time after the exile, though, I think the Book of Jonah was a challenge to the returned exiles that IF YHWH extend his grace and forgiveness to Gentiles (even people as bad as the Assyrians), then how would they react? Would they accept it, or would they be like the rebellious prophets Jonah in the story and reject it?
Dear Dr. Anderson,
Wow. That is something I didn’t know. Interesting perspective.
Thank you for answering my question sir.
Yours Sincerely,
The Programming Nerd