The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the Old Testament's Troubling Legacy
Author | : | |
Rating | : | 4.66 (642 Votes) |
Asin | : | 0800698258 |
Format Type | : | paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 232 Pages |
Publish Date | : | 2016-02-03 |
Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
This book will be an important reference point for the interpretive conversation that we must continue to have." --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary . He exposits the deep problem of pervasive violence and suggests venturesome ways to counter such terrifying testimony. "Seibert has waded into the tough and demanding question of violence in the Bible with great courage and sensitivity
Seibert's View Must be Considered by all who struggle with divine violence in Scripture Jeremy Myers - Writing at RedeemingGod I applaud Eric Seibert on tackling such a tough topic and writing about it in such a gracious and insightful way. By far, the strength of this book is the truth that no matter how we read the violent portions of Scripture, we must not ever read them in a way that allows us to justify our own violence toward others.The various reading strategies that Seibert proposes in the book go a long way toward helping Christians view others through the lens of Jesus Christ, so that rather than view them as enemies to be killed, we see them as people for whom Jesus died.However, not everyone will be happy with the w. On the Bad Stuff in the Good Book There is a deep cognitive dissonance which must be faced by any thinking Christian and it involves the fact that the Bible contains seemingly contradictory images of God in terms of transcendent love and extreme violence.We begin with the image of love. Christians follow Jesus in extending a degree of love and forgiveness for the enemy that confounds worldly wisdom. Think, for example, of the bereaved father extending forgiveness to serial killer Gary Ridgway at a victim impact hearing because "God told me to forgive". As inexplicable, even offensive, as such acts may appear, they are ultimately borne o. This writing helped in a lot of ways to see wimsyjoy This writing helped in a lot of ways to see and understand scripture in a more realistic and non-violent way.
He is the author of Subversive Scribes and the Solomonic Narrative (2006) and Disturbing Divine Behavior (Fortress Press, 2009). Seibert is professor of Old Testament and former Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Initiative at Messiah College. Eric A.
For those who read the Bible as Scripture, these depictions of "virtuous" violence pose tremendous moral and theological challenges. What can be done to stop people from using the Old Testament in such destructive ways, and how might these violent texts be read more faithfully?Eric Seibert faces these challenges head-on by confronting the problem of " virtuous" violence and urging people to engage in an ethically responsible reading of these troublesome texts. Over the years, these texts have been used to justify all sorts of violence: from colonizing people and justifying warfare, to sanctioning violence against women and children. He offers a variety of reading strategies designed to critique textually sanctioned violence, while still finding ways to use even the most difficult texts constructively, thus providing a desperately needed approach to the violence of Scripture that can help us live more peaceably in a world plagued by religious violence.. No one can read far in the Old Testament without encountering numerous acts of violence that are sanctioned in the text and attributed to both God and humans