A precis of chapter 7.
Often, what we think we see in other people, or God, is simply a projection of our own character and attitudes.
The Pharisees studies the Scriptures diligently. But they failed to see Christ in them, because ‘they did not have the love of God in their hearts’ (Jn 5:39-42). When our hearts are not right, misunderstanding abounds (Jn 2:19-22; 8:43; Mt 13:15).
Many (including Jesus’ disciples) expected a Messiah who brought military victory. …
A precis of chapter 6.
A missionary couple are assigned to an area where female genital mutilation is performed. They realise that the practice is so deeply ingrained that it would be futile to confront it immediately. So, for the time being, they seek to ameliorate its worst effects by providing anaesthesia and better surgical knives. Only gradually are they able to convince the people to end the practice.
Is it unreasonable to suggest that God sometimes act like that? …
A precis of chapter 5.
This cruciform approach to interpreting Scripture may seem to be new (because it has not been taught in the church for 1500 years. But, in fact, it can be traced back to the early church and (most importantly) to Scripture itself. And in the following ways.
(a) Finding Christ crucified in all of Scripture. Martin Luther has been rightly characterised as ‘the theologian of the cross’. For Luther, the cross was the key to interpreting the Bible. …
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)?…
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer.”
The so-called lex talionis is found in Ex 21:24; Lev 24:19–20; Dt 19:21.
According to Greg Boyd (Cross Vision), this is the most ‘astonishing’ example of Jesus repudiating an OT law. This law required a person’s punishment to correspond to the severity of their crime. …
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. …
Vaughan Roberts, in ‘Together in Faith and Love?‘:-
The difference between the moral instincts of contemporary society and the traditional teaching of the Church flows from two different worldviews, both of which could be called gospels, because each claims to present good news which offers an alternative path to freedom and fulfilment. The gospel of ‘expressive individualism’, to use the sociologist Charles Taylor’s term, prizes authenticity as its core value. Jonathan Grant has expressed it well:
…‘Modern authenticity encourages us to create our own beliefs and morality, the only rule being that they must resonate with who we feel we really are.
