Jonah

E. Dean Cook is a retired Navy chaplain who also taught at Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, New York, and was its first campus chaplain. For ten years, he was senior pastor of the Wilmore Free Methodist Church near Lexington, Kentucky, where he also taught, mentored, and supervised ministerial students at Asbury Theological Seminary and Asbury University. During his long and varied career as a clergyman, he served as senior chaplain at the Naval Base Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California; serving also on the aircraft carrier USS America and several other naval ships and installations. He was appointed Director of his denomination's chaplains.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Biblical Literature from Seattle Pacific University, master's and doctoral degrees from Asbury Theological Seminary, and an honorary doctor's degree from Roberts Wesleyan College. He holds the rank of Captain in the Navy Chaplain Corps and was made an Honorary Admiral by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

He has been married to his wife, Ruth, for 55 years. They have four sons and six grandchildren. Cook is the author of two other books: Salt of the Sea (an account of his chaplain career) and Being God's Presence in Closed Communities, a history of his denomination's chaplaincy ministries.

His interest in and study of the book of Jonah was ignited by the wide variety of interpretations given the book. The writer believes that Jonah has a clear and powerful message for this generation and the Church, who are prone to follow the god they want rather than the God that is.