The appropriation of the book of Jonah in 4th century Christianity by Theodore of Mopsuestia and Jerome of Stridon

Abstract

: The book of Jonah (c. 430 – 330 BCE ) is one of the Old Testament books that was received in its Septuagint version in Early Christianity. This paper deals with the two earliest extant commentaries on the book of Jonah : the Greek commentary by Theodore of Mopsuestia (written in the last quarter of the 4th century) and the Latin commentary by Jerome (396 CE ). Written independently at about the same time, both comment verse-by-verse on the whole book of Jonah . We will investigate and compare the two authors ’ communicative strategies within a triangle of pretext, readership, and commentary, i.e. which techniques they employ in order to appropriate the c. 800 year old, canonical book of Jonah to its contemporary readers, how they interpret their current situation by means of reception of the ancient text, which norms and values they derive from it, and to what extent they attribute to it a formative effect concerning Christian identity in their own times.