Is God a Vindictive Bully?: Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments

Paul Copan

Oct 2022 · Baker Academic

About this ebook

Critics outside the church often accuse the Old Testament God of genocide, racism, ethnic cleansing, and violence. But a rising tide of critics within the church claim that Moses and other "primitive," violence-prone prophets were mistaken about God's commands and character. Both sets of critics dismiss this allegedly harsh, flawed, "textual" Old Testament God in favor of the kind, compassionate, "actual" God revealed by Jesus. Are they right to do so?

Following his popular book Is God a Moral Monster?, noted apologist Paul Copan confronts false, imbalanced teaching that is confusing and misleading many Christians. Copan takes on some of the most difficult Old Testament challenges and places them in their larger historical and theological contexts. He explores the kindness, patience, and compassion of God in the Old Testament and shows how Jesus in the New Testament reveals not only divine kindness but also divine severity. The book includes a detailed Scripture index of difficult and controversial passages and is helpful for anyone interested in understanding the flaws in these emerging claims that are creating a destructive gap between the Testaments.

About the author

Paul Copan (PhD, Marquette University), a Christian theologian, analytic philosopher, and apologist, is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. For 6 years, he served as president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He was a visiting scholar at Oxford University in 2017. Copan is the author or editor of more than 40 books, including Is God a Moral Monster?; True for You, But Not for Me; That's Just Your Interpretation; When God Goes to Starbucks; and A Little Book for New Philosophers.