J. Richard Middleton. Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God. Baker Academic, 2021. The binding (Aqedah) of Isaac is one of the most troubling stories in all Scripture. And it is not hard to see why. The story depicts God commanding a father to butcher […]
biblical violence
Why God Did Not Command the Slaughter of the Canaanites, Briefly Explained
This article provides a brief synopsis of a case explaining why God did not command the slaughter of the Canaanites. It is based on a debate opening statement that I gave last year. And it provides an introduction to some of the arguments I develop at length in Jesus Loves Canaanites. “Slaughter” is defined as the […]
The Limits of Defending Biblical Violence By Appealing to a Big, Wild, and Dangerous God
Over the years, I have seen many Christians attempt to address problems of divinely sanctioned biblical violence by reframing them as virtues: in short, the bug is a feature. How so? On this re-narration, the problem of biblical violence should remind us that God is big and wild and dangerous. This offers an essential chastening […]
Seven Things I Wish Every Christian Knew About the Bible: A Review
Michael Bird. Seven Things I Wish Every Christian Knew About the Bible. Zondervan, 2021. Seven Things is an introduction to the Bible written by Anglican priest and New Testament scholar Michael Bird. The book is written in seven chapters addressing origins (chapter 1), inspiration and inerrancy (chapter 2), authority (chapter 3), the cultural distance between the biblical […]
My Debate With Aron Ra
My debate with Aron Ra is now available for your viewing pleasure. It was a cracking exchange that ranged widely over concepts like worldview, epistemology, the ethics of discourse, and yes, biblical violence. ?
Rwanda and the Ethics of Canaanite Genocide: A Conversation
I was just interviewed on the Meet Jesus YouTube channel alongside Phodidas Ndamyumugabea, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, talking about Rwanda, genocide, and the Canaanites. A unique and very interesting conversation! ?
William Lane Craig Says God May Command Us to “Drive Out Canaanites” in Our Day. I Respond.
Reasonable Faith just posted a short video from William Lane Craig in which the esteemed apologist defends the prospect that God may command Christians today to target people groups in the same way that the ancient Israelites targeted the Canaanites for extermination. In this video, I provide a response. ?
How Christians Read Biblical Violence with Confirmation Bias
In this video, I explain how Christian reading of divine violence in the biblical text is often distorted by confirmation bias to defend particular theological assumptions about God. ?
What if God is Dreadful?
In his book A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis sets aside the task of theodicy that he shouldered in The Problem of Pain in favor of a searing personal account of pain and loss centered on the death of his beloved wife Joy. At one point in the book, he reflects, “Not that I am (I […]
How Biblical Divinely Commanded Genocide Undermines Moral Knowledge
Is it intrinsically evil to slaughter infants or does it depend on the context? Our moral knowledge says one thing, biblical passages like 1 Samuel 15:3 seem to say something else. ?
Prolife Christians Who Support Child Killing
Defending the morality of the Canaanite genocide has disastrous consequences for a consistent Christian ethic as I explain in this video. ?
Quick Replies to William Lane Craig’s Bad Talking Points on the Canaanite Genocide
William Lane Craig has made truly impressive contributions to a range of deep philosophical and theological topics. His defense of biblical atrocities like the Canaanite genocide is a notable exception. In this article, I offer some responses to excerpts from his response to a listener question about the Canaanite genocide. Craig says: “The slaughter of […]
Fundamentalist Bible Reading and Literally False Descriptions of God
In this video, I explain how a passage like Exodus 32 forces fundamentalist Christians to abandon their “literalist” approach to Bible reading or face stark theological consequences. ?
Did God Command the Slaughter of the Canaanites? A Debate
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