In the Jewish calendar, the holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement—Oct. 2 this year. It is a fast day. Observant Jews eat and drink nothing between twilight on the eve of Yom ...

The preface to the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible offers two analogies related to the interpretation of scripture. It likens scripture first to a mosaic that arrives disassembled and must ...

Since I’m not a Bible scholar, I’m not very embarrassed about the theological and historical errors I’ve made while blogging. But since I’m an American citizen, I am extremely embarrassed about the ...

(RNS) — The Book of Jonah is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Because of what is happening in the Middle East right now, the Book of Jonah is especially relevant to us today. Jonah is not a ...

Late this Saturday afternoon on Yom Kippur, many Jews will be sitting in synagogue listening to the chanting of the Book of Jonah. We will be tired, hungry, thirsty, and perhaps even irritable. At ...

The principal character in this small prophecy is Jonah, son of Amittai. We read of him in 2 Kings 14:25, in which the additional information is given that he was from Gath-hepher, in the territory of ...

Often unnoticed as the tale of Jonah being swallowed by a whale is read in synagogue on Yom Kippur is a much smaller animal. Jonah, “Yonah” in Hebrew, means a dove. As the two Israeli scholars Menahem ...