Full Description
What do we do with a God who sanctions violence?
Old Testament violence proves one of the most troubling topics in the Bible. Too often, the explanations for the brutality in Scripture fail to adequately illustrate why God would sanction such horrors on humanity. These unanswered questions leave readers frustrated and confused, leading some to even walk away from their faith.
In Flood and Fury, Old Testament scholar Matthew Lynch approaches two of the most violent passages in the Old Testament - the Flood and the Canaanite conquest - and offers a way forward that doesn't require softening or ignoring the most troubling aspects of these stories. While acknowledging the persistent challenge of violence in Scripture, Flood and Fury contends that reading with the grain of the text yields surprising insights into the goodness and the mercy of God. Through his exploration of themes related to violence including misogyny, racism, and nationalism, Lynch shows that these violent stories illuminate significant theological insights that we might miss with a surface reading.
Flood and Fury challenges us to let go of the need to rescue the Old Testament from itself and listen afresh to its own critiques on violence.
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Foreword by Helen Paynter
Acknowledgments
Part One: A Real Problem (with Options)
1. Facing the Problem (Without Burning Down Your House)
2. Finding Our Way
Part Two: Shalom and Its Shattering
3. Shalom in Creation's DNA
4. Violence Against Women in the Bible's Prologue
5. Creation's Collapse
6. Shalom Redux
Part Three: Reading Joshua with Yeshua
7. Wielding the Sword
8. Negotiating with the Enemy
9. Minority Report
10. Show Them No Mercy
11. Completing the Exodus in Canaan
12. Giants Will Fall
13. Worship as Warfare
Part Four: The Old Testament and the Character of God
14. What the Old Testament Says About God's Character
15. Irresolvable
Figure Credits
General Index
Scripture Index
