Making sense of Old Testament genocide : Christian interpretations of Herem passages /
The divine commands to annihilate the seven nations living in Canaan (to 'devote them to destruction', herem in Biblical Hebrew) are perhaps the most morally troubling texts of the Hebrew and Christian bibles. 'Making Sense of Old Testament Genocide: Christian Interpretations of'...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford, United Kingdom :
Oxford University Press,
2018.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | Oxford theology and religion monographs.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | The divine commands to annihilate the seven nations living in Canaan (to 'devote them to destruction', herem in Biblical Hebrew) are perhaps the most morally troubling texts of the Hebrew and Christian bibles. 'Making Sense of Old Testament Genocide: Christian Interpretations of' Herem 'Passages' addreses the challenges these texts pose. It presents the various ways in which interpreters from the first century to the twenty-first have attempted to make sense of them. The most troubling approach was no doubt to read them as divine sanction and inspiration for violence and war: the analysis of the use of 'herem' texts in the crusades, the inquisition, and various colonial conquests illustrates this violent way of reading the texts, which has such alarming contemporary relevance. Three additional approaches can also be traced to antiquity, viz. pre-critical, non-literal, and divine-command-theory readings. Finally, critics of Christianity from antiquity via the Enlightenment to today have referenced herem texts: their critical voices are included as well. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (x, 282 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780192539007 0192539000 9780191848032 0191848034 |