Digital Logos Edition
How should we understand biblical texts where God is depicted as acting irrationally, violently, or destructively? If we distance ourselves from disturbing portrayals of God, how should we understand the authority of Scripture? How does the often wrathful God portrayed in the Old Testament relate to the God of love proclaimed in the New Testament? Is that contrast even accurate?Disturbing Divine Behavior addresses these perennially vexing questions for the student of the Bible. Eric A. Seibert calls for an engaged and discerning reading of the Old Testament that distinguishes the particular literary and theological goals achieved through narrative characterizations of God from the rich understanding of the divine to which the Old Testament as a whole points. Providing illuminating reflections on theological reading as well, this book will be a welcome resource for any readers who puzzle over disturbing representations of God in the Bible. 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).
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
You can save when you purchase this product as part of a collection.
“One of the primary reasons so many people find God’s behavior in the Old Testament unsettling is because it does not conform to their fundamental beliefs about God as good, loving, and fair. But what if these beliefs about God are unwarranted or, at least, overstated? What if the problem lies with our preconceived notions about God rather than with the way the Old Testament portrays God? What if God actually is both good and bad, just and unjust, loving and abusive?” (Pages 69–70)
“As troubling as these—and similar—Old Testament stories are, they do not raise insurmountable theological problems for one simple reason: they are stories about human wrongdoing.” (Page 16)
“Old Testament Narratives Put Words in People’s Mouths” (Page 110)
“Control beliefs can be defined as strongly held presuppositions that provide the framework within which we make sense of things. They ‘guide and control the way we investigate and interpret evidence’ and ‘form the boundaries within which answers are possible.’[59] These beliefs function as interpretive boundary markers, or gatekeepers, which limit the way data can be explained.” (Pages 85–86)
“Acknowledging that there are some things in the Bible that did not happen, or did not happen as described, effectively exonerates God from certain kinds of morally questionable behavior.” (Page 112)
Need help?