The Confusing Nature of the Book of Jonah Analysis
From the outset of reading "Prophesy, Sacrifice, and Repentance in the Book of Jonah" I began to feel that the author's diction was contrived and unnecessarily complex. Sometimes it felt that when strange vocabulary was used, it did not aid in explaining the idea, but only served to confound the reader. Perhaps the author meant to develop specific jargon to be more concise in his analysis, but I find it more likely that it was intended to intimidate the reader. One sentence that stood out to me can be found on page 159. "... the matrix of human relations in which we were immersed before invoking this ratio separating the differentiable from the undifferentiable." For a second, I thought I was back in math class.
And why did the writer choose fill nearly thirty pages to explain a relatively simple idea? I had read the Book of Jonah in the past, and was very confused by these other interpretations he presented as the most common. The final conclusion he reached was what I had first thought after reading the story, but the analysis presented here was so confusing that I did not understand what was intended until after it concluded.
I think it is the very same reason that any pseudo-scientific work employs a mountain of large, meaningless, latin-based words; it is because if the reader does not understand what you say but you sound smart, they are inclined to believe whatever conclusion you reach and will be impressed by your superior intelligence, even if everything else is incomprehensible.
And why did the writer choose fill nearly thirty pages to explain a relatively simple idea? I had read the Book of Jonah in the past, and was very confused by these other interpretations he presented as the most common. The final conclusion he reached was what I had first thought after reading the story, but the analysis presented here was so confusing that I did not understand what was intended until after it concluded.
I think it is the very same reason that any pseudo-scientific work employs a mountain of large, meaningless, latin-based words; it is because if the reader does not understand what you say but you sound smart, they are inclined to believe whatever conclusion you reach and will be impressed by your superior intelligence, even if everything else is incomprehensible.
I agree that the author could've expressed their ideas in a much shorter form. I got confused because I feel like I read the same thing many times in slightly different terms. It's as if they wrote down everything they were thinking and never edited it. That article contained many good points, but they should have been organized in a more clear fashion.
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