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How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation Hardcover – 27 Apr 2015

by John Dominic Crossan (Author)

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The Bible introduces us to a loving Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But we also meet a warrior Jesus who leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true Messiah Should we all follow the nonviolent Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount or the vengeful, sword-wielding Christ of Revelation

As one of the foremost biblical scholars of our day, John Dominic Crossan re-veals that running throughout the entire Bible-from Genesis to Revelation-are two conflicting revelations of God: one offering a radical, holy vision where every need is provided for and love and grace are extended widely; the other working to domesticate this radical vision by em-phasizing judgment and punishment and by propping up the status quo.

But one thing is clear, argues Crossan: one cannot pretend that the Bible provides a single, unified vision of God or Jesus. If one wants to discover the Bible's best and purest revelation of God, then Christians must measure the Bible by Jesus. And to find the best and purest revelation of Jesus, Crossan concludes, then we must look to the work of scholars who can point us to the teachings of the historical Jesus. Only then will we know how to read the Bible and still be a Christian.

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Product details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Religious - US (27 April 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062203592
ISBN-13: 978-0062203595
Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2.4 x 22.9 cm
Boxed-product Weight: 408 g
Average Customer Review: 1 customer review

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"Crossan's treatment of the text is nothing short of spectacular, even when I didn't agree with his assertions. With skill, wit, and all the finesse of the intellectual giant that he is, Crossan manages to successfully navigate those troublesome texts and...begins the redemptive process of the text."--The Clarion Journal of Spirituality

"When studying the Bible, Christians are met with opposing versions for God: one of vengeance and one of compassion. Crossan confronts this conflict and challenges readers to engage in conversations about faith and the historical Jesus."--U.S. Catholic

"Crossan, one of the most prolific popular writers among the scholars of the historical Jesus . . . proposes viewing the nonviolent movement of the historical Jesus-and not some apocalyptic bloodbath-as the end or center or climax of Christian time."--Booklist (starred review)

From the Back Cover

The Bible introduces us to a loving Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But we also meet a warrior Jesus who leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true Messiah? Should we all follow the nonviolent Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount or the vengeful, sword-wielding Christ of Revelation?

As one of the foremost biblical scholars of our day, John Dominic Crossan re-veals that running throughout the entire Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—are two conflicting revelations of God: one offering a radical, holy vision where every need is provided for and love and grace are extended widely; the other working to domesticate this radical vision by em-phasizing judgment and punishment and by propping up the status quo.

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Amazon.com: 97 reviews

Justice v Judgement

21 January 2016 - Published on Amazon.com

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I am a Christian; however, I have struggled most of my adult life with the dichotomy of God as described in the Bible. On the one hand we have the loving creator God who gave us everything and whose son preached love and nonviolence. On the other hand we have the avenging God of the flood, periodic wrath against his people, and ultimately the sword wielding Jesus of death in Revelation. "Put bluntly, the nonviolent Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount seemed annulled and dismissed by the later Jesus in the book of Revelation." [p 9] John Dominic Crossan has done a masterful job showing how and why that dichotomy repeatedly exists in the Bible.

Crossan's compelling argument is that God provides us radical love and distribution of resources but civilization continually subverts His will into our quest for more, more, more. "[W]e see that as in the Old Testament so in the New, as with Torah so with Paul, a rhythm of assertion-and-subversion is emphatically present. A vision of the radicality of God is put forth, and then later, we see that vision domesticated and integrated into the normalcy of civilization so that the established order of life is maintained. Furthermore, both elements are cited from, in one case, the mouth of God and, in the other, the pen of Paul."[p 27]

God's will for us is a world of justice. "There are, however, two forms of justice - the justice of distribution and the justice of retribution; a distinction of supreme importance for both the Bible and this book. In fact, I will go a step farther and argue that distributive justice is the primary meaning of the word 'justice' and that retributive justice is secondary and derivative. In the bible, it is primarily about a fair distribution of God's world for all of God's people. For example, when the Bible cries out for justice, can one really think it is demanding retribution? Give justice to the weak and orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Ps 82:3-4)" [p 17]

One ramification of this radical idea can be found when re-reading the story of Adam and Eve. The words "'sin', 'disobedience', and 'punishment', let alone 'fall' never occur anywhere in Genesis 2-3." [p 44] When bad things happen to us (short of natural causes such as earthquakes or hurricanes) it is "not external punishment but an internal consequence"[p 116] of our break from God. "[I]f there is no such thing as divine punishments, but rather only human consequences, then there is no such thing as divine forgiveness, but rather only the possibility of human change; and there is no such thing as divine mercy, but rather only the time within which change is still possible before it is too late." [p 126]. Too late, not because of God's wrath but because mankind has become so good at killing and destruction.

An important tool Crossan uses is "matrix" - that is, the context of time and culture of the stories. He compares the story of the Garden of Eden with that of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest written stories from Mesopotamia. Later he compares the story of Cain and Abel with the Sumerian story of "'Dumuzid and Endkimdu: the Dispute Between the Shepherd-God and the Farmer-God'"[p 60]. (Recall that Abel was a shepherd and Cain a farmer.) In the New Testament he compares the words used to describe Jesus with those that describe Caesar. While some Christians may dismiss this look at context Crossan argues "[t]he alternative to matrix meaning is Rorschach reading or inkblot interpretation, which is when an ancient text means whatever your modern mind decides it means." [p 236]

We see in the New Testament the stark difference between the Roman world view and the Christian one. Both wanted peace, but the method of establishing that peace could not be more different. "Roman imperial theology was structured around this quite clear and explicit sequence: religion, war, victory, peace, or, in the briefest summary as mantra and motto: Peace Through Victory." [p 190] This is the normalcy of civilization we have seen play out over and over again through thousands of years. God's program, on the other hand is "peace through [distributive] justice." [p 202]

Similarly, in the New Testament, Crossan points out, the description of Jesus as "Divine, Son of God, or God Incarnate" matches the words to describe the Roman Emperor Augustus. Context is everything. "Only after you discern what it meant to transfer those titles from emperor to peasant and Palatine Hill to Nazareth Ridge then, can you assert either belief or disbelief now." [p 237] That context also shows how radical the claim of Jesus' divinity was.

By walking back through the Gospels Crossan shows how Jesus' vision of peaceful, non-violent resistance, as shown in Mark, one of the earlier Gospels, is subverted through rhetorical violence in the later Gospels of Luke and Matthew and their common source "Q". "[Matthew] puts all of that invective in the mouth of the historical Jesus after having earlier recorded him - the new Moses giving a new law from a new Mount Sinai - as solemnly forbidding agner, insult, and name-calling {5:21-22) and demanding, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you' (5:44). I ask as before for John's Gospel: Did Jesus change his mind, or did Matthew change his Jesus?" [p 178]

Crossan demonstrates this heartbeat of assertion of God's plan and the subversion of civilization very clearly in Paul's letters. I think it is settled scholarship that Paul did not write all the letters ascribed to him. "Seven were certainly written by Paul... A further three were probably not written by him... And a final three were certainly not written by him: 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus." [p 24] Paul's views on slavery and the equality of women were subverted by later authors writing in his name. In his original letters it is clear Paul understands that women have every right to be leaders in the movement; in fact, a woman was one of his traveling companions. Likewise, when a friend's slave runs to Paul after being mistreated by his owner, Paul converts the slave to Christianity and tells the owner one Christian cannot own another. In later letters in Paul's name are given over to a set of instructions to both slaves and owners outlining each's responsibilities. Finally, in Paul's name, a letter is written to slave owners only with no direct address to slaves. "Colossians subverted and denied the Pauline letter to Philemon on slavery. That was an early warning of how Pauline radicality on certain basic values would be de-radicalized back into Roman normalcy." [p 216]

"Those six letters not written by him [Paul] are not just post-Pauline and pseudo-Pauline letters but are actually anti Pauline letters. They represent the subversion of which the seven authentic letters were the assertion. Jesus, as we saw, was suberted over two stages - by rhetorical violence in the Gospels and by physical violence in Revelation. This happened similarly with Paul: he was de-radicalized and re-Romanized in two stages." [p 220]

Now I know that fundamentalists will disagree with this approach loudly and forcefully. And atheists will use the book as an argument for ignoring the Bible altogether. But for me it puts the heart of God's message to us front and center and shows how civilization continually subverts His will for a world of peace through justice. This book has given me a framework to understand what has troubled me for years.

I've quoted Crossan extensively, but bear with me and let him have the last word:

"If, therefore, you agree with this book that there are no divine punishments but only human consequences... then the challenge to our species is clear. Governed not by chemical instinct but by moral conscience, can we control escalatory violence before it destroys us? Can we abandon violence as civilization's drug of choice? Can we opt deliberately for peace gained through justice and abandon, as a fatally bankrupt option, that mantric chant of peace gained through victory?" [p 244]

"Furthermore, if you find the term 'God' or 'civilization' distracting, I suggest you look at that ... as simply the clash between a radical and a normal vision for the future of human life on earth. The radicality of nonviolent resistance versus the normalcy of violent oppression, and the radicality of peace through distributive justice versus the normalcy of peace through victorious force seem to apply equally to the first century then, our twenty-first century now, and all the centuries in between." [p 244]

34 people found this helpful.

Eva Winter

Thought provoking, but not for the average evangelical Christian

19 November 2017 - Published on Amazon.com

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I liked the book a lot because I came across it at the right time in my spiritual journey. I especially liked his distinction between distributive and retaliatory justice, and how the radicality of God has been subverted, time and again, into the normalcy of civilization, and that on the very pages of the Bible. But I would imagine that those readers who hold to a literal, verbal inspiration of the Bible in its entirety, will not get much out of it.

7 people found this helpful.

R. Warren

Afraid to read the whole bible? Try this first

1 January 2018 - Published on Amazon.com

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

For those Christians like me who have been afraid to read the bible in its entirety for fear of how it portrays God as all too human, vengeful and ungenerous. This book's scholarship is undeniable, but its preservation of the ideals of Christianity is what remains after reading it. It has given me a new way of looking at classical Christianity with faith. It is not for those who prefer to read the bible as absolutely divinely inspired, but for those of us who want to understand the contradictions found within it's sometimes all too human authors' manipulations. It really changed the way I read the bible and yes I am still a Christian!

5 people found this helpful.

Orville B. Jenkins

Crossan performs his expected thorough and clear, readable analysis ...

26 April 2018 - Published on Amazon.com

Verified Purchase

Crossan performs his expected thorough and clear, readable analysis of the streams of thought that seem to portray two different portraits of God in the collection of documents over several centuries that now constitute what we call the Bible. Crossan's book was originally published in 1989 and may be available only from used book vendors. I bought it through Amazon.

God's Violence vs God's Justice
The author focuses on the problem of God's violence and conflicts in different portraits of God perceived in the Old Testament texts. I expect this book will be helpful especially to those who have given up on trying to make sense of the Bible in terms of our understanding of the Bible's deep fairness and justice themes of the Bible.

Crossan addresses the problem of character that troubles so many readers by exploring the portrayals of God in regard to violence in the biblical testimony. He examines the writings in light of the eras in which each was written and the prevailing historical and political situation and the major empires of the region used as models for the CVovenant metaphor of Israel with Yahweh. Central to this is the ancient concept of Covenant found among all the ancient peoples of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

Two Imperial Characters
He provides a very enlightening description of the differences between the the character of the Hittite and the later Assyrian empires as reflected in their Covenants with the rulers and peoples they conquered or related to as conquered peoples or vassals.

The Hittites were known for their benevolent character and fairness in relationship to conquered or vassal rulers, while the Assyrians were known for violent and cruel repression and domination. This throws great light on how we see the covenant model reflecting these two different formats of relationship in portrayals of the Israelite tribes' relationship to their God.

His outline of key differences between the political, economic and cultural character of two great Empires and how these are reflected in their covenants is very enlightening. The different character of these two empires and the more violent and repressive character of the Assyrians clarifies greatly the differences we see between different portrayals in biblical writings of Yahweh and his relationship to his people Israel.

Covenant Character
The Covenant metaphor is a powerful, central concept in the Old Testament writings. The two different Covenant models at the various times can explain much of the dissonance we modern readers see and feel when the Covenant metaphor is used to portray God as the ruling suzerain and Israel as the vassal relating to the covenanted descendants of Jacob.

We find in the later developments in proclamations by the high prophets, God's character was a core value in their call back to faithfulness to the Covenant with Yahweh.

He explores how later empires, including the Roman Empire at the time of Christ, may be helpful in understanding the themes and images in the book of Revelation, with all its violence.

Crossan writes not only as a skilled and able scholar and clear-headed writer, but as a devoted believer and lover of the biblical texts. Crossan's incisive overview of the biblical texts places those texts in their historical and cultural context, bringing them to life.

Cultural Character
These texts have a historical and cultural character in whose terms they speak. Discernment will enable us to make responsible application to our very different place in history and the unique worldview context in which we live and think. Crossan brings the Covenant and Gospel message to life that makes sense across cultures.

This title will be especially appreciated by readers unfamiliar with the broader history of that region and that ancient time reflected in the biblical texts.

One person found this helpful.

Joan C Wrenn

BEST YET!!!

7 August 2016 - Published on Amazon.com

Verified Purchase

I've enjoyed the scholarship and challenge of many of Crossan's books. For me this is the Best Yet! This not lengthy volume in Crossan's pithy style, that demands close and careful reading as always, teems with both method and content, taking the reader on a thoughtful archaeological adventure through the Bible in search of one specific truth. And of course Crossan shows us both the path to that truth and his challenging statement of a truth that should have been guessed, that has always been in my peripheral vision, but which is now obvious.

6 people found this helpful.

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