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

Eric A. Seibert

Jan 2012 · Fortress Press

About this eBook

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.

About the author

Eric A. Seibert is professor of Old Testament and former Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Initiative at Messiah College. He is the author of Subversive Scribes and the Solomonic Narrative (2006) and Disturbing Divine Behavior (Fortress Press, 2009).