A few weeks ago I published a review of the book The Violence of Scripture (Fortress, 2012) by Eric Seibert, Professor of Old Testament at Messiah College. After reviewing the book I invited Dr. Seibert to submit to the rigors of an interview and he kindly obliged. What follows is an interview conducted by way of emailed questions […]
Old Testament
John Allister, the Amalekites, and the Principle of Inherited Culpability
In his defense of the Amalekite genocide on “Unbelievable” John Allister appeals to what we can call the “Principle of Inherited Culpability”. While John doesn’t provide a clear definition of this principle, I’ll attempt to do so based on what he says. Principle of Inherited Culpability We will begin with a first attempt to articulate John’s […]
An Unbelievable defense of the Amalekite Genocide
The other day I listened to the latest podcast from Justin Brierley’s radio program “Unbelievable.” I have always loved the show as it seeks to forge precisely in-depth conversation across the divide of deeply polarized positions. And that’s just what our world needs today. However, this particular program soon had me pulling out my hair. The […]
Jesus, execution and divorce
In “Does Jesus commend the killing of children in Mark 7:10?” I argued that this verse (and the surrounding passage, Mark 7:9-13) does not provide warrant to think Jesus would commend (let alone participate in) the stoning of a child, even if the conditions for such a stoning as outlined in the Torah were met. […]
Does Jesus commend the killing of children in Mark 7:10?
In “Would Jesus stone a misbehaving child?” I argued that he wouldn’t. One of my readers, Jeff, responded as follows: “Jesus affirms in Mark 7:10 the practice of stoning rebellious children, and we don’t have any manuscript evidence (that I’m aware of, at least) that this is an inauthentic addition to Mark.” Jeff clearly believes […]
On the Bad Stuff in the Good Book: A Review of Eric Seibert’s The Violence of Scripture
Eric A. Seibert. The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the Old Testament’s Troubling Legacy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012. 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 […]
How good is God Behaving Badly? A Review
David T. Lamb, God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist? Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2011. David Lamb’s new(ish) book God Behaving Badly (GBB) covers much of the same terrain as Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Baker, 2011). However, if […]
What in hell is going on? A Review of Sharon Baker’s “Razing Hell” (Part 2)
Sharon L. Baker. Razing Hell: Rethinking everything you’ve been taught about God’s wrath and judgment. Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. 222 pp. ISBN: 0664236545 This is the second installment (hence “Part 2”!) in a three part review. For Part 1 click here. Chapter 5 The second part of the book, which seeks to lay a […]
Things Christians say to explain away biblical moral atrocities
First off, what’s a moral atrocity? It is the kind of event perpetrated by moral agents such that, if you read about it in the newspaper, you’d naturally exclaim “That’s a moral atrocity!” And by saying that you’d be meaning (among other things) that the event in question is an egregious moral evil which could not plausibly […]
Hector Avalos puts Yahweh in the dock (or tries to)
Hector Avalos, “Yahweh is a Moral Monster,” The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, ed. John Loftus (Amherst: Prometheus, 2010), 209-236. At long last we continue our ongoing, meandering, waxing and wandering review of The Christian Delusion with a quick review of Hector Avalos’ essay “Yahweh is a Moral Monster.” I don’t have too much to say about […]
Morality, the Divine Right of Kings, and Democracy
In the last few days I have been hammering on the objective existence of moral facts because this creates a problem for naturalistic and atheistic views of the world (i.e. they don’t have room for such facts). There have been some noble attempts to sidetrack me from this singular purpose. The most notable, posited by […]
