Vol. 9, No. 2, September 2023 e-ISSN 2715-0895, p-ISSN 2442-790X I Indonesian Journal of English Language Studies (IJELS) 122 This work is licensed under CC BY-SA. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Reading The Book of Jonah through the Eco-Spiritual Perspective Hew Yan Liew 1 , Jin Beng Seach 2* , and Santini Pathinathan 3 1,2,3 Tunku Abdul Rahman University, Malaysia liewhy-wj20@student.tarc.edu.my 1 , garygreat1@yahoo.com 2* , and santinip@tarc.edu.my 3 *correspondence: garygreat1@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/ijels.v9i2.7023 received 14 August 2023; accepted 13 September 2023 ABSTRACT Whether one chooses to acknowledge or disregard its significance, nature has always been part of us. In an anthropogenic era, the dire state of the environment has made it an increasingly concerning topic of discussion among us. Nature has been extensively examined in numerous scholarly discussions ranging from secular to religious perspectives. This paper examines how nature plays a crucial role in helping us understand the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in the Bible. The Bible being a religious text exists with very specific purposes. That being said, elements of nature were also used very specifically in the Bible. Most presently available scholarly research focuses on reading the significance of nature elements from religious perspectives. However, this research employs the eco-spirituality theory to examine the book of Jonah from the Bible to determine the relationship between Jonah, God, and nature. Through this secular perspective, the aim is to show that elements of nature have been carefully woven into narratives to signify various meanings. Furthermore, this research aims to identify how God communicates with humans through nature, which eventually helps to establish various forms of relationships between humans and nature. Through these newly formed relationships, we can understand the authority of a Creator and the consequences of obedience and submission. All these highlight the importance of co-existence between humans and nature, and examining the Bible through the lens of eco-spirituality perpetuates the relevance of the Bible to 21 st -century readers. Keywords: Christianity, communication, ecospirituality, nature, the book of Johan INTRODUCTION One of the most influential religions to date is Christianity, its corresponding religious text being the Bible. For the translation of the purpose of this study, the New International Version (NIV) has been chosen for analysis due to its popularity internationally being the current No. 1 bestselling version due to its eligibility and international understanding (Livengood, 2004). This is an ideal version to analyze because of the vast number of people that read and quote it and because it is so widely read, this research would be relatable to the majority of people since the same text with the same lexicon and grammatical structures will be used. Some biblical scholars would see the events of Jonah as satirical (Wolfe, 2011), while some claim it to be historical or possibly a parable (Alexander & Alexander, 2017). Despite the unrealistic representation of the tale of Jonah, it is undeniable that the prophet Jonah is historical, and examining the presence of natural elements will greatly contribute to new insights in understanding the text. Besides, the book of Jonah is truly about can be interpreted in multiple different ways. Some believe it is about obedience, while others may see it as defiance (Ryu, 2016). Regardless, conventional interpretations of the Book of Jonah reflect the