Over the last several years few social issues have caught the attention of the Christian community like homosexuality. Critics often complain that the attention and emotional energy that Christians have directed toward this particular issue is disproportionate to its relative importance (see, for example, my article “Ten things that are more disturbing than gay marriage”). […]
corporal punishment
Pragmatists, Prophets, and Punitive Appendage Amputation
In my review of William Webb’s Corporal Punishment in the Bible I argued that Webb does not go far enough in his redemptive-movement hermeneutic. In this followup article I will develop that criticism further. I will begin by providing an illustration that illumines the tension between the pragmatist and the prophet before I turn to focus […]
Beat your children well? A Review of Corporal Punishment in the Bible by William Webb
William J. Webb. Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011. In the introduction to Corporal Punishment in the Bible William Webb introduces us to a former student of his, an Ethiopian gentleman named Fanosie. Webb recalls how he emailed Fanosie several chapters from the manuscript of […]
