Editing Book of Jonah (section)

===Modern===
In [[Jungian analysis]], the belly of the whale can be seen as a symbolic death and rebirth,<ref>{{cite news |last=Betts |first=John |title=The Belly of the Whale {{!}} Jungian Analysis |url=http://jungian.ca/articles/the-belly-of-the-whale/ |website=Jungian Psychoanalysis |access-date=25 October 2019 |date=19 January 2013}}</ref> which is also [[Hero's journey#Belly of the Whale|an important stage]] in comparative mythologist [[Joseph Campbell]]'s "[[hero's journey]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Joseph |title=The Hero with a Thousand Faces |date=2008 |orig-year=1949|publisher=New World Library |isbn=9781577315933 |page=[https://archive.org/details/herowiththousand0000camp_x3m0/page/74 74] |url=https://archive.org/details/herowiththousand0000camp_x3m0|url-access=registration }}</ref>

[[NCSY]] Director of Education [[David Bashevkin]] sees Jonah as a thoughtful prophet who comes to religion out of a search for theological truth and is constantly disappointed by those who come to religion to provide mere comfort in the face of adversity inherent to the human condition. "If religion is only a blanket to provide warmth from the cold, harsh realities of life," Bashevkin imagines Jonah asking, "did concerns of theological truth and creed even matter?"<ref>Bashevkin, Dovid. [http://www.thelehrhaus.com/timely-thoughts/2016/9/29/jonah-and-the-varieties-of-religious-motivation-a-religious-educators-perspective-on-why-people-become-religious "Jonah and the Varieties of Religious Motivation."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012155807/http://www.thelehrhaus.com/timely-thoughts/2016/9/29/jonah-and-the-varieties-of-religious-motivation-a-religious-educators-perspective-on-why-people-become-religious |date=2016-10-12 }} ''Lehrhaus''. 9 October 2016. 2 October 2017.</ref> The lesson taught by the episode of the tree at the end of the book is that comfort is a deep human need that religion provides, but that this need not obscure the role of God.