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Making sense of Old Testament genocide : Christian interpretations of herem passages / Christian Hofreiter. [print]

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Oxford theology and religion monographsPublication details: Oxford ; New York, New York : Oxford University Press, (c)2018.Edition: First editionDescription: x, 282 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780198810902
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • BS1199.H713.M355 2018
  • BS1199
Available additional physical forms:
  • COPYRIGHT NOT covered - Click this link to request copyright permission:
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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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Circulating Book (checkout times vary with patron status) Circulating Book (checkout times vary with patron status) G. Allen Fleece Library CIRCULATING COLLECTION Non-fiction BS1199.V56 H64 2018 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 31923001741111

Includes bibliographies and index.

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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