IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN THE BOOK OF JONAH
Keywords:
Alterity, Forgiveness, God’s Nature, Identity, Jonah, ReconciliationAbstract
The relationship between identity and alterity is always a matter of tension. This becomes all the more true, when it deals with the dialectic of identity of a major insider group vis a vis the alterity of a minority outsider group. A harmonious coexistence of between a group with strong identity consciousness and an alterity is possible only if they develop a reciprocal reconciling attitude. Memories of the past can influence this relation positively and negatively depending on their openness to forgive and repair. In this article the various aspects of the identity-alterity relation is studied taking the biblical prophet Jonah as a paradigm.
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