Apologists and Appropriators: Protestant Christian Reckoning with Biblical Violence

Abstract

Since its earliest days, Christianity has had to reckon with the violence which its sacred text contains. In broad terms, the issue provokes two main questions. First, to what extent is violence in the world of the reader condemned, justified, or indeed commanded by the biblical text? Second, how is the violence of the text to be reconciled with the conventional Christian view of God as all-loving? This chapter begins by outlining the biblical witness to violence and peace in both testaments. It then sketches out the contours of the modern debate on biblical violence within Protestant Christian scholarship, beginning with a broad overview of the issues and then considering briefly some of the traditional ways in which these texts have been viewed, before moving on to a consideration of the contemporary debate.