Recent Research on Divine Violence in the Old Testament (with Special Attention to Christian Theological Perspectives)

Abstract

Many readers of the Bible are troubled by passages in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament that portray God behaving violently and commanding others to do likewise. This article offers a survey of various ways contemporary scholars—particularly Christian scholars—have attempted to respond to the moral and theological challenges these troubling texts inevitably raise for modern readers. The contributions considered here are mostly from the past twenty years. Seven different approaches are examined, with special attention given to attempts to defend or critique God’s violent behavior. Brief evaluation of the relative merits of these approaches is offered along the way. A range of theological perspectives is included, and scholars from a number of different academic disciplines are represented. The article’s conviction is that regardless of how these texts are interpreted, readers should not use them to harm others or to justify future acts of violence.