__Reconciling a violent Old Testament God with a loving Jesus__   
Would a good, kind, and loving deity ever command the wholesale slaughter of nations? We often avoid reading difficult Old Testament passages that make us squeamish and quickly jump to the enemy-loving, forgiving Jesus of the New Testament. And yet, the question remains.  
  
In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.  
  
"Copan and Flannagan address the arguments of the atheists who use divine violence in the Bible to undermine belief and confidence in God. Not only are they adept at biblical interpretation and philosophy as they effectively counter this challenge, but they also write in a deeply compelling way."--__Tremper Longman III__, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College  
  
"Copan and Flannagan go beyond standard treatments of Old Testament warfare; they incorporate biblical, theological, philosophical, ethical, legal, and historical perspectives on a much-debated but often misunderstood topic."--__William Lane Craig__, research professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology  
  
"This is a very lucid and helpful discussion of this troubling topic."--__Gordon Wenham__, professor of Old Testament, Trinity College, Bristol  
  
"This brave, hard-nosed, and wide-ranging study constitutes a serious attempt at facing all the varied aspects of a question that troubles so many people. Well done!"--__John Goldingay__, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary  
  
"The most thorough and comprehensive treatment of the problem of violence in the Old Testament that I have encountered."--__Christopher J. H. Wright__, international ministries director, Langham Partnership; author, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God and The God I Don't Understand  
  
__Paul Copan__ (PhD, Marquette University) is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has authored and edited thirty scholarly and popular books, including Is God a Moral Monster?

__Paul Copan__ (PhD, Marquette University) is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. He is the author of several popular apologetics books, including Is God a Moral Monster? and lives with his wife and five children in Florida.  
  
__Matthew Flannagan__ (PhD, University of Otago) is a researcher and a teaching pastor at Takanini Community Church in Auckland, New Zealand. He is also a contributing author to several books.

A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. Even Christians have a hard time stomaching such a thought, and many avoid reading those difficult Old Testament passages that make us squeamish. Instead, we quickly jump to the enemy-loving, forgiving Jesus of the New Testament. And yet, the question doesn't go away. Did God really command genocide? Is the command to "utterly destroy" morally unjustifiable? Is it literal? Are the issues more complex and nuanced than we realize?  
  
In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages. Pastors, youth pastors, campus ministers, apologetics readers, and laypeople will find that this book both enlightens and equips them for serious discussion of troubling spiritual questions.

Leading apologetics author helps readers understand how the violent commands of the Old Testament God can be reconciled with the New Testament's ethic of love as taught by Jesus.

Copan, Paul ;Flannagan, Matt

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Endorsements

Dedication

Introduction

Part 1: Genocide Texts and the Problem of Scriptural Authority

1. The Problem Clarified

2. What Does It Mean to Say the Bible Is the Word of God?

3. The God of the Old Testament versus the God of the New?

Part 2: Occasional Commands, Hyperbolic Texts, and Genocidal Massacres

4. Does the Bible Command Us to Kill Innocent Human Beings?

5. Does the Bible Portray the Canaanites as Innocent?

6. Thrusting Out, Driving Out, and Dispossessing the Canaanites—Not Annihilating Them

7. The Question of Genocide and the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Joshua

8. Genocide and an Argument for "Hagiographic Hyperbole"

9. Objections from the Biblical Text to the Hyperbolic Interpretation

10. Legal and Theological Objections concerning Genocide

Part 3: Is It Always Wrong to Kill Innocent People?

11. Divine Command Theory

12. The Divine Command Theory of Obligation: What It Is—and Is Not

13. Arbitrary Divine Commands?

14. Other Euthyphro-Related Objections

15. Can One Coherently Claim That God Commanded the Killing of Innocents?

16. Can One Rationally Believe God Commands a Violation of Innocent Human Beings?

17. Is It Rational to Believe God Commanded the Killing of Innocents?

18. What If Someone Claimed God Commanded Killing the Innocent Today?

19. The Role of Miracles and the Command to Kill Canaanites

Part 4: Religion and Violence

20. Does Religion Cause Violence?

21. Are Yahweh Wars in the Old Testament Just like Islamic Jihad?

22. Did Old Testament War Texts Inspire the Crusades?

23. Turning the Other Cheek, Pacifism, and Just War

Afterword

Notes

Back Ad

Back Cover

A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. Even Christians have a hard time stomaching such a thought, and many avoid reading those difficult Old Testament passages that make us squeamish. Instead, we quickly jump to the enemy-loving, forgiving Jesus of the New Testament. And yet, the question doesn't go away. Did God really command genocide? Is the command to"utterly destroy" morally unjustifiable? Is it literal? Are the issues more complex and nuanced than we realize?  
  
In the tradition of his popularIs God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages. Pastors, youth pastors, campus ministers, apologetics readers, and laypeople will find that this book both enlightens and equips them for serious discussion of troubling spiritual questions.

Did God Really Command Genocide? [eBook]

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