Old Testament Archives

Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought

God's Radical Laws of Freedom in the Old Testament Author: Joshua Berman In Created Equal Joshua Berman focuses on the Hebrew Bible (i.e., the Old Testament to Christians) and its revolutionary sociological and political precepts. In God’s ancient covenant with Israel, He broke from the prevailing king worship and tiered social structure (think “class”) of the day, using His laws and their implementation to create a society where everyone was equal. Of course, this one sentence doesn’t get to the complexity behind how this equal society was created and just how vastly different it was from all the other social structures [...]

Is God a Moral Monster

The Old Testament & Our Questions Author: Paul Copan In Is God a Moral Monster? author Paul Copan dissects those verses and chapters in the Old Testament that everyone from the veteran believer to the adamant atheist finds inexplicable and disturbing. If our God is one of mercy and love – why did He tell the Israelites to commit genocide against the Canaanites? Why is slavery accepted in the Bible? Why is the Old Testament populated by weird laws and rituals? Why was Abraham asked to sacrifice his only son? Why are women treated as possessions for sale? Why are foreigners [...]