The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the Old Testament's Troubling Legacy

No one can read far in the Hebrew Bible without encountering depictions of violence carried out by human beings, sometimes in the name of God, or indeed violence carried out or commanded by God–from Cain’s murder of Abel to the slaughter of Canaanite populations and much. For those who read the Bible as sacred scripture, such depictions can pose tremendous moral and theological challenges.

Eric A. Seibert faces these challenges head-on, offering perspectives on the roles human and divine violence play in different parts of the Old Testament, evaluating the biblical presentation of “virtuous violence,” and proposing strategies for reading the Bible out of a commitment to nonviolence. At last he offers “soundings” in biblical texts where we encounter alternative voices, often neglected, that seek and announce ways of peace.

• Violence in Scripture: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church
• Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Overtures to Biblical Theology)
• Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence
• Neglected Voices: Peace in the Old Testament
• Did God Really Command Genocide?: Coming to Terms with the Justice of God
• Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
• The Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Volumes 1 & 2
• Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy
• The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites
• Disarming the Church: Why Christians Must Forsake Violence to Follow Jesus and Change the World