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Jerome F. D. Creach

Violence in Scripture: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church Hardcover – September 2, 2013

by Jerome F. D. Creach (Author)

4.7 23 ratings

Part of: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (7 books)

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The Bible frequently depicts God as angry and violent, and also sometimes depicts human violence as positive or even as commanded by God. This forms one of the most vexing problems in approaching Scripture and in interpreting the Bible for preaching and teaching today. In this volume, Creach first examines the theological problems of violence and categorizes the types of violence that appear in scripture. Then, he wrestles with the most important biblical texts on violence to work through specific interpretational issues. This new volume in the Interpretation: Resources for Use of Scripture in the Church series will help preachers and pastors interpret those difficult texts, encouraging them to face violence in the Bible with honesty.

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Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church
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304 pages
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English
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Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date

September 2, 2013
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0664231454
ISBN-13

978-0664231453
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Editorial Reviews

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"Recent critics have suggested that the Bible's narratives and biblical monotheism promote various forms of religious violence. In this book, Jerome Creach demonstrates that such accusations are often based on facile (mis)readings of the biblical text. With theological sophistication, Creach reveals that frequently the texts under discussion contain critiques of the very violence some claim the Bible endorses. Even those who may question some of Creach's interpretations will learn much about how Christians and others can read troubling biblical texts generously and productively."
--Joel S. Kaminsky, Professor in the Religion Department, Smith College

"Creach models rigorous scholarship within the perspectives of robust faith. He thereby sheds new light on a major contemporary problem. This should enable fresh understanding and confident use of the Bible in Christian ministry and preaching."
--Walter Moberly, Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University

"In his book Violence in Scripture, Jerome Creach investigates multiple aspects of violence as a problem in biblical texts. He draws primarily upon Old Testament passages that appear to condone violence in God and humans. He shows how historical circumstances affect and complicate understandings of violence. He uncovers self-correcting elements of the scriptures that challenge violence of God and of human. He locates violent passages within larger canonical contexts that correct or modify the place of violence. He concludes that God's hopes for humans and the world are essentially non-violent. God created the world without violence, and Jesus brings Old Testament themes of non-violence to fulfillment in the New. Creach's study is clear and insightful, and it promises to provoke thoughtful reflection among pastors, teachers, lay people, and scholars."
--Kathleen M. O'Connor, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emerita, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Creach demonstrates clearly and convincingly that the Bible is not an inherently violent book (as some suppose) and that it certainly does not authorize violence in the human community. Drawing upon the latest and best historical-critical research, along with canonical perspectives and insights from the history of biblical interpretation, Creach shows that the Bible from its very beginning portrays a God who wills comprehensive peace and well-being for all people and all creation. Given our current culture of violence (in which the church is often complicit), Creach's work is an extraordinarily timely and valuable contribution to biblical theology. It should serve as an indispensable resource for church members and church leaders as we confront violence in self and society, and as we pursue the peace that God wills."
--J. Clinton McCann, Jr., Evangelical Professor of Biblical Interpretation, Eden Theological Seminary

About the Author

Jerome F. D. Creach is the Robert C. Holland Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westminster John Knox Press (September 2, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0664231454
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0664231453
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.27 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,559,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,746 in Old Testament Criticism & Interpretation
- #4,195 in Old Testament Bible Study (Books)

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Jay Augustine

A liberation theology on violence in scripture

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 4, 2017

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An absolutely excellent and thought-provoking work. From the pastoral eyes of a preacher, Creach's scholarly exploration of several controversial and not-so-often talked about biblical texts provides a new and liberating lenses through which I can see God's movement in God's word and offer encouragement to God's people. It's a wonderful read that I highly recommend, especially for those in pastoral ministry.

9 people found this helpful

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Connie

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 24, 2014

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Excellent book. My Church used this book as a study.

One person found this helpful

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Clint Walker

The work in this commentary/study is smart, thoughtful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2014

Violence In Scripture is part of the resources provided by Westminster John Knox Press and the Interpretation Series. To begin with, Interpretation put out a series of Bible commentaries directed at preachers and bible teachers. These commentaries are very practical and well respected. After finishing the Bible commentaries, the Interpretation folks began to take on the study of themes in Scripture, of which this work is a part.

Violence In Scripture takes on the issue of how the Bible deals with violent behavior, as the title indicates. It attacks this issue sequentially, moving through the narrative of Scripture from the Patriarchs, through the Pentateuch, in Hebrew history and through the Prophets, moving forward into the New Testament. The Psalms are also employed in this study.

The work in this commentary/study is smart, thoughtful, and even handed. Jerome F. D. Creach definitely has a perspective, but his perspective does not cloud him from being fair-minded and taking on the difficult issues regarding violence and discussing them with intelligence and integrity. I love how it is outlined, and the thoroughness of this fine work.

I will add this book to my library, and use it right along with my other books on war, peace, and violence in discerning God's will on such issues.

6 people found this helpful

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john condon

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 31, 2014

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excellent---thank you

2 people found this helpful

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Dr Conrade Yap

Making Sense of Violence in the Bible

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2014

We have all heard about the common accusation. "There is so much violence in the Bible. How can a loving God permits such gross violence, vengeance, and the vices of murder and evil deeds?" What does the Bible then say about violence? Is there justification for its use? In what manner does God condone or condemn violence? How can modern readers understand the contexts then and the implications now especially in a post 9/11 era? These challenging questions and more are tackled by Dr Jerome Creach, Robert C. Mulholland Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. As terrorism and violence grows unabated in various parts of the world, more and more attention are being paid toward the biblical segments on violence, especially in the Old Testament. It raises questions like:

- Why does the Old Testament depict a loving God as one who is also vengeful and violent?
- Do servants of God then have a license to kill?
- How do we make sense of God when Jesus preaches love while the Old Testament seems to veer in the opposite direction?
- Who is God?
- How do we read the Bible?

Even believers are often stuck with the predicament of violence in the Scriptures. On the one hand, they can try to justify God. On the other hand, plain reading does show that there is violence advocated explicitly by God. The key is to learn how to read and interpret Scriptures as a whole. This interpretation needs to be consistent with two guiding principles. First, there is no one way to read Scripture, except to read it each part of Scripture with a constant eye on the bigger picture. The author suggests Christ as the key window to interpretation. Second, God's use of violence is always against forces aligned to evil. The author suggests that violence is not an end in itself but always a motivation against some ills of the world.

Creach provides some assumptions on how to understand violence in scripture. First, learn to see the part in context of the whole. We see how God often has to destroy something so that something better can be constructed. It is important to understand that God's motivation is one that is "corrective and redemptive in nature." Violence is not about violence for its own sake. It is always for the sake of ensuring the redemption is maintained. Second, learning to see the particular in the light of the whole does not mean there is nothing redemptive in the act in the first place. For example, in passages that say all in the land are to be killed, we read about Rahab being spared. Perhaps, the story has less to do with the killing but why God is particularly concerned about the sparing of one life. While this may not answer the question of violence entirely, it does provide an interpretive angle to consider farther. Third, each reading has to be historically informed. The problem with modern readers is that they too readily read 21st Century sensitivities into ancient texts. Creach suggests that the context of killing the enemies needs to be understood in the light of an utterly helpless and non-military trained Israel tribes. What Israel did in obeying God is nothing compared to what their enemies did. That is one reason why God forbade Israel constantly to copy the practices of the Canaanites and the godless people. Fourth, Creach is very open to a "spiritual interpretation" of the biblical texts, in particular the ones that seem to condone violence. This also called "allegorical interpretation" which has largely fallen out of favour with modern readers. Fifth, we need to let God be God, that He is Judge, and He has every right to do what He wants. In other words, there is a limit to what man can question God. More importantly, we read of what God would do to protect and redeem His people.

More importantly, the book offers hope in the reading and understanding of the Old Testament. Understanding that there is no one definite way to understand the violence motif in the Old Testament, Creach sets the stage from the book of Genesis that God created man to be the caretaker of a garden. With the Fall, man plunges into a vicious cycle of tyranny and violence. What is most interesting is that God has the end in mind. One of peace and of Sabbath, and God has invited man to be participants of this.We read from the Exodus passages of how God fights for his people, especially when his people are utterly helpless. At the same time, God is portrayed as a Divine Warrior in which evil and injustice are swiftly dealt with. Both retributive and restorative justice are described. Then there is the violence inflicted upon the enemies of God and Israel. Sodom, Pharaoh, and the Amalekites are denoted as three symbols of evil, in which non-violence is absolutely inadequate and the best way to bring about justice and righteousness is eradicating evil completely. Chapter 4 is one of the most important as it deals with the problematic questions of genocide and the problem of violence in Judges and Joshua. Creach argues that the "utterly destroy" passages does not actually call for the killing of others but for the holiness of Israel, a metaphor for complete obedience and holiness to God. In doing so, Creach is advocating an allegorical interpretation, aligning himself with Origen.

The violence in Judges is so bizarre that it merits one whole chapter. Creach argues that the purpose for the existence of Judges is not to describe the violence but to show the depravity and evil of the sins of man. When a people loses her way, in particular walking away from God, everything else collapses. Yet, the amazing thing is that God uses violence for liberation purposes too, (eg Samson). Of interest is the Levite's concubine who were horribly raped (Judges 19:1-30), that the mistreatment of women coincides with the deterioration of the spiritual state of the nation. The cutting up of the woman shows the consequences of the cowardice of the Levite as well as the need for judgment to come quickly.

When thinking about violence, the Bible also paints a picture of who the violence is against. For the prophetic books, violence is described against the enemies of God who are arrogant, godless, wicked, oppressive, and all types of evil. See how Elijah fights the prophets of Baal. Many parts of the Bible also calls on God's people to participate by prayer. They are to pray to God for vengeance to come down from above. This runs contrary to most of our pious saints' understanding of prayer. Creach justifies it by saying that such prayers are essentially meant to bring to an end quickly the evil. Nothing is to be prolonged. Justice be swift and complete. Not only that, the suffering and the victimization are too real to be ignored that the only way to bring about restoration is for a quick vengeance from God. It is important that in violence or vengeance, the focus is not on the person but on the eradication of evil per se. We need to distinguish between killing a person and ridding evil. The New Testament does contrasts in a remarkable way when we see Jesus' preaching a gospel of nonviolence. Does this mean that the NT is contradicting the OT? Absolutely not. Creach suggests that the problem "becomes harder to resolve if Jesus’ instructions concerning violence are read as absolute statements." This is controversial, but what Creach is trying to say is that the gulf between the OT and NT will not be significantly large if we see Jesus' teachings in the spirit of counter-culture rather than the letter.

This is a hard topic to discuss. It is even more challenging for any theologian to put forth a particular view or interpretation. Creach is bold. He pushes interpretation far and wide, considering not just the literal but the literary dimensions. He is willing to consider an allegorical reading where he sees fits. Most controversial of all is chapter 8 where he suggests not taking Jesus's words as "absolute statements." His assertion of sacrifice and service before any violence is moot. The cross is a symbol of Christian identity. It tells us that in any act of violence, it is not about good or evil people being inflicted. It is about the Son of God who willingly subjected himself to violence for the sake of all people. At the cross, violence or non-violence is no longer the issue of concern. It is an utter rejection of worldly forces totally, that power and might is not going to save the day. Only God's complete Judgment will end all violence once and for all.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade
This book is provided to me courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

18 people found this helpful

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sofo67

An invaluable tool

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 20, 2018

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Whilst I feel that there is more to be said in some areas, this is a most useful book. Jerome Creach has given a good general coverage of violence in the Old Testament in particular and I guess that most people who read this book will be very grateful for his willingness to tackle this difficult subject.

Clare

Helpful and insightful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

Excellent and thoughtful book that, with its helpful insights, contributes to this challenging topic.

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