If you have ever struggled with biblical portrayals of violence—human and divine—this book is for you.
If you have ever seethed in church as violence was described as adultery, this book is for you.
If you are seeking a trustworthy guide through the Bible’s texts of terror, this book is for you.
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This brilliantly accessible and engaging book canvasses one of the heaviest themes in the Bible, examining portrayals of violence in its many forms. Unlike so many accessible Bible studies, Violence & the Bible for Normal People resists the temptation to provide “neat and tidy” theological solutions to some of the most challenging texts in the Bible, instead naming them for what they are and examining their ongoing legacies.
Weaving her love of true crime and murder mysteries with her extensive expertise, biblical scholar Caroline Blyth has written a book that is both profoundly honest and engaging—that honors the weighty legacies of these texts, but resists being weighed down by them.
Join Caroline Blyth as she illuminates some of the darkest biblical narratives and gently examines the questions they raise, both for their ancient authors and their readers today.
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You don't have to take our word for it... here's what some other awesome people are saying:
“In this readable and contemporary book, Caroline Blyth provides us with a safe space to discuss the rich but challenging theme of biblical violence. She provides a roadmap to guide the reader through cases of physical violence—including the image of God as a warrior; of gender-based, often sexual, violence; of structural and hierarchical misuse of power and of the language of violence. She draws out wider issues of power dynamics and emotional damage that cause violence and she opens a window into a biblical world that confronts and speaks to today’s world in profound ways.”
Katharine DellUniversity of Cambridge, UK
“In writing about power and its abuses in the biblical story, Blyth has written a book that is potentially empowering for its readers. She shows the complexity of biblical storytelling and therefore of interpretation as she consistently seeks to do justice both to these fearsome ancient texts and to their contemporary readers—and importantly, to victims of their misinterpretation.”
Ellen F. DavisAmos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke Divinity School
“Caroline Blyth’s Violence & the Bible for Normal People is a brief but sobering journey through case studies that illustrate the main types of violence that we find represented and even endorsed within the Bible. Blyth does a masterful yet accessible job of illuminating not only the violence attributed to God, to God’s people, and to their enemies, but also the values and power asymmetries that sustain and are sustained by that violence. Importantly, this journey compels us to grapple with those values and power asymmetries that are still with us and their relationship to the violence we still see around us all.”
Dan McClellanPublic scholar and honorary fellow at the Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion
“Caroline Blyth serves up a platter worthy of Salome—though, yes, the Bible does not actually name Salome in the story featuring John the Baptist's severed head. Like many other squeamish normal people, I enjoy a gory tale—from the comfort of my home, that is. As an academic, I value scholarship on the Bible that is thorough, accurate, and accessible. This wonderful read on murder, sacrifice, and other biblical violence makes both parts of me—the normal and the scholarly—feel very satisfied.”
Johanna StiebertProfessor of Hebrew Bible, University of Leeds, UK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CAROLINE BLYTH
PhD University of Edinburgh
Caroline Blyth is a Scottish biblical scholar who’s made her second home in Aotearoa New Zealand. Before she dipped her toes into biblical studies, she gained a degree in psychology and worked as a mental health nurse. Since taking (very!) early retirement from academic life in 2021, Caroline has worked as a freelance proofreader and editor. In her spare time, she busies herself with various “passion projects,” which usually involve investigating biblical violence in light of contemporary crime narratives, both real and fictional. Her childhood love of crime fiction has never waned, and she’s recently turned her hand to writing some murder mysteries of her own.