Summarising chapter 4:
In a detective novel, the meaning of an event depends on where it is in the story and how it relates to what comes before and after it.
It is just so with the Bible: although many read it as they would a cookbook, where the order of recipes is not particularly important, it does in fact tell a story, and the position of a given event within that story may be very significant.…
Greg Boyd’s ‘conundrum’ is addressed in two books – the longer The Crucifixion of the Warrior God and the shorter (but still substantial) Cross Vision. It is the latter of these two books that I am currently working through. But it is the Introduction to the former that contains a succinct statement of the ‘condundrum’ that motivated the writing of both books:
…‘How are we to reconcile the God revealed in Christ, who chose to die for his enemies rather than to crush them, with the many OT portraits of Yahweh violently smiting his enemies?
Summarising chapter 3 of Greg Boyd’s Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence (Fortress Press, 2017).
What do we think about a wife who is repeatedly and viciously attacked by her husband, and yet stands by him because she is convinced that ‘He loves me’.
Why do so many Christians confess that ‘God is love’ and yet believe that he does hurtful things to people (such as predestining large numbers of them to eternal punishment)?…
Summarising Chapter 2 of Greg Boyd’s Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence (Fortress Press, 2017).
Are all the parts of the Bible equally true and authoritative, or is it right to privilege the teaching of Jesus over that of the Old Testament?
We unconsciously do the latter when we refrain from stoning disobedient children. But, also, we have the explicit teaching of Jesus himself, who said that he had ‘a greater witness than John [the Baptist]’ (Jn 5:36). …
Beginning to work through Greg Boyd’s Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence (Fortress Press, 2017)
Summarising the Introduction: Something Else Must Be Going On
Suppose I happen to spot my wife in a public place, behaving in an aggressive and hurtful manner. Given how well I know her, how long I have known her, and how trustworthy her character, I would not conclude that she was, after all, an aggressive and hurtful person. …
