Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible

Most studies on violence in the Hebrew Bible focus on the question of how modern readers should approach the problem. But they fail to ask how the Hebrew Bible thinks about that problem in the first place. In this work, Matthew J. Lynch examines four key ways that writers of the Hebrew Bible conceptualize and critique acts of violence: violence as an ecological problem; violence as a moral problem; violence as a judicial problem; violence as a purity problem. These four 'grammars of violence' help us interpret crucial biblical texts where violence plays a lead role, like Genesis 4-9. Lynch's volume also offers readers ways to examine cultural continuity and the distinctiveness of biblical conceptions of violence.

Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary and Cultural Study

Religion & Spirituality

Lynch, Matthew J.

Christian Books & Bibles

Cambridge University Press

"Most studies on violence in the Hebrew Bible focus on the question of how modern readers should approach the problem. But they fail to ask how the Hebrew Bible thinks about that problem in the first place. In this work, Matthew J. Lynch examines four key ways that writers of the Hebrew Bible conceptualize and critique acts of violence: violence as an ecological problem; violence as a moral problem; violence as a judicial problem; violence as a purity problem. These four 'grammars of violence' help us interpret crucial biblical texts where violence plays a lead role, like Genesis 4-9. Lynch's volume also offers readers ways to examine cultural continuity and the distinctiveness of biblical conceptions of violence"--

What do we do with a God who sanctions violence? 
Old Testament violence proves one of the most troubling topics in the Bible. Too often, the explanations for the brutality in Scripture fail to adequately illustrate why God would sanction such horrors on humanity. These unanswered questions leave readers frustrated and confused, leading some to even walk away from their faith. 
In Flood and Fury, Old Testament scholar Matthew Lynch approaches two of the most violent passages in the Old Testament – the Flood and the Canaanite conquest – and offers a way forward that doesn't require softening or ignoring the most troubling aspects of these stories. While acknowledging the persistent challenge of violence in Scripture, Flood and Fury contends that reading with the grain of the text yields surprising insights into the goodness and the mercy of God. Through his exploration of themes related to violence including misogyny, racism, and nationalism, Lynch shows that these violent stories illuminate significant theological insights that we might miss with a surface reading. 
Flood and Fury challenges us to let go of the need to rescue the Old Testament from itself and listen afresh to its own critiques on violence.

Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God

Paynter, Helen

IVP Academic

About the Author\nMatthew J. Lynch is Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Regent College. He is the author of Monotheism and Institutions in the Books of Chronicles and Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary and Cultural Study.\nIsaiah 1–39 uses the unique term אלילים―usually translated as “idols”― more than anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Using this linguistic phenomenon as a point of departure, Matthew J. Lynch reexamines the rhetorical strategies of First Isaiah, revealing a stronger monotheizing rhetoric than previously recognized. 
Standard accounts of Israelite religion frequently insist that monotheism reached its apex during the exile, and especially in Deutero-Isaiah. By contrast, Lynch’s study brings to light an equally potent mode of monotheizing in First Isaiah. Lynch identifies three related rhetorical tendencies that emphasize yhwh’s supreme uniqueness: a rhetoric of avoidance, referring to other deities as idols (אלילים) to avoid conferring on them the status of gods (אלוהים); a rhetoric of exaltation, emphasizing yhwh’s truly exalted status in opposition to all that which exalted itself; and a rhetoric of abasement, fully subjugating all other claimants to absolute power―whether human or divine―before the divine king. 
Succinctly and persuasively argued, Lynch’s book will change how biblical scholars understand the nature and development of Israelite monotheism.

First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods (Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible)

Eisenbrauns

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lynch, Matthew J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lynch, Matthew J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lynch, Matthew J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary and Cultural Study

Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible

Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God

First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods (Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible)