Jonah's Transformation and Transformation of Jonah from the Bakhtinian Perspective of Authoring and Re-authoring

Abstract

This article explores the transformation of both the character of Jonah and the text of Jonah, especially in ch. 2, from the Bakhtinian perspective of (re-)authoring. Bakhtin's concept of authoring shows that the disobedient Jonah is transformed into an obedient prophet in ch. 2 in his understanding of God and himself. Simultaneously, Bakhtin's notion of re-authoring reveals that the book of Jonah has been transformed in the history of Bible translation as seen in the Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Vulgate.