Divine Violence in the Old Testament
Divine Violence in the Old Testament
How do we make sense of the many stories in the Bible that portray God as at best ignoring violence and at worst explicitly calling for it?
Is God violent?
These questions have plagued readers of the Bible for centuries, moving beyond theory to practical and devastating applications—including the justification of human acts of violence.
In this class, Dr. Peter Enns delves into examples of divine violence in the Biblical text while challenging simplistic interpretations that assert we need to uncritically accept depictions of God as violent.
This class includes:
Study guide
Class recording
Q&A session recording
Downloadable class slides
Scholar roundtable discussion
Cost: $25
Topics we’ll cover:
Key texts in the Old and New Testament that condone violence.
Why ancient writers’ understanding of God was tied to violence.
How readers today can interpret the Bible respectfully and responsibly while still critiquing its violent depictions of God?
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Pete Enns
Peter Enns (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.
He has written numerous books, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works.
Also in this Series
Origin of the Old Testament with Pete Enns
For those who have embraced the idea that the Bible in its original form is perfect and unchanging, the answer to the questions of how and why the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible arose is simple: it came directly from God to humanity. Any errors and discrepancies are the result of careless transcribers. However, as Dr. Peter Enns explores in this class, the historical evidence demonstrates the answers to these questions are, in fact, much more complicated. Join Dr. Peter Enns as he examines the convoluted, lengthy, and messy origin of the Old Testament.
The Bible and Multivocality with Pete Enns
For some readers, the idea that the Bible is composed of varied, distinct, and even contradictory voices is not only controversial but incompatible with taking the Bible seriously. However, in this class Dr. Pete Enns argues that multivocality is a central component of the Biblical text. The multiplicity of voices, even those that are in direct opposition to one another, is by design. This multivocality is at the heart of the Bible. Join Dr. Enns as he examines why the Bible has multiple voices as well as how these voices shape how we understand and view the text.
