Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan offer extensive critiques of my views in their book Did God Really Command Genocide? In turn, I devoted most of a chapter on what I called “The Just War Interpreters” to an extensive critique of their ‘kinder, gentler’ interpretation of the Canaanite genocide by demonstrating that it collapses into ethnic cleansing […]
Paul Copan
Killing the Children of Jericho: How Paul Copan Avoids the Question
In this video, we listen to an excerpt of a debate in which Paul Copan is asked directly about the killing of children as referenced in the slaughter of all the residents of Jericho, men and women, young and old (Joshua 6:21). Rather than address directly the ethics of slaughtering children and infants, Copan deflects […]
Strawmen, the Golden Rule, and Apologetic Hypocrisy
A couple months ago I was sent a copy of Josh and Sean McDowell’s new edition of Evidence that Demands a Verdict. It’s a mammoth book (798 pages) and I hope to review it soon. But I keep finding myself getting distracted as I read, and often it isn’t for a good reason. Consider, for example, […]
1 Samuel 15 and Paul Copan’s Middling Compromise
This week “Unbelievable” featured Part 2 of an exchange between Paul Copan and Greg Boyd on Boyd’s new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. In Part 2, Justin Brierley and his two guests focus in on particular biblical texts to see how each position deals with the text in question. The first major text under discussion is 1 […]
The Violent God Debate: An Unbelievable Review
This week’s episode of Unbelievable features a debate between Paul Copan and Greg Boyd regarding Boyd’s new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. I will not be rehearsing the various arguments here, so I definitely advise you take the time to listen to this excellent exchange (the first of two rounds). Instead, I will offer […]
Can divine wrath explain divinely commanded genocide?
In his 2005 book Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace theologian Miroslav Volf provides a penetrating reflection on the extraordinary challenge and inestimable rewards of acquiring a robust understanding of grace and forgiveness. I first became aware of Volf’s book some years ago when I was critiquing evangelical apologetic readings of […]
My review of Did God Really Command Genocide?: The Shorter Version
Yesterday I posted my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s Did God Really Command Genocide? as an Amazon review. Alas, Amazon required me to shorten the review since it was a couple thousand words too long to fit on Amazon’s platform. But after some diligent work I managed to pare it down in length. […]
Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 3)
Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014, 351 pp. Welcome to the third (and final) installment in my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s book Did God Really Command Genocide? For part 2 click here. The second installment of this review ended […]
Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 2)
Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014. 351 pp. This is the second (and penultimate) installment in my review of Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan’s book Did God Really Command Genocide? For part 1 click here. I recommend readers begin with part […]
Did God Really Command Genocide? A Review (Part 1)
Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan. Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God. Baker, 2014. 351 pp. Given the spate of books recently published on the Bible and violence, you might think this is a newly discovered problem. That would be a misreading, however, for theologians have wrestled with this […]
33. Paul Copan on Apologetics
“Always be prepared,” Saint Peter said, “to give a reason for the hope that lies within.” (1 Peter 3:15) Christians refer to the pursuit and articulation of such reasons for faith as apologetics. Given that Peter commended the pursuit of apologetics, you might think that Christians would be enthusiastic about the discipline. But for many the reception is […]
The chief end of Man in Reformed perspective
I’m currently reading through a new book called God and Evil (InterVarsity, 2013) for review in the blog. However, a comment by Paul Copan in his essay on the origin of evil caused me to pause. He writes of what he calls “strong Calvinists” that they find themselves in tension with “the Westminster Catechism’s own […]
Reflections on the Thom Stark-Paul Copan debate
Robert helpfully supplied a link to Paul Copan’s much anticipated response to Thom Stark’s three hundred page review of Is God a Moral Monster? Having read Paul’s book, the first hundred pages of Thom’s review, and the entirety of Paul Copan’s response (which, thankfully, was much shorter), I have some initial thoughts. First, I think Thom Stark […]
Thom Stark’s review of Paul Copan’s “Is God a Moral Monster?”
Thom Stark has completed his review of Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster. The review is available here. I haven’t read the review yet because, well, I don’t have ten hours to spare. (Me suspects nobody will ever fault Thom Stark for failing to meet his word count.) Anyway, based on my limited experience […]
