Ralph K. Hawkins Averett University Danville, Virginia

Transcription

1 RBL 11/2013 Eric A. Seibert The Violence of Scripture: Overcoming the Old Testament s Troubling Legacy Minneapolis: Fortress, Pp. x Paper. $ ISBN Ralph K. Hawkins Averett University Danville, Virginia Eric Seibert s new volume, The Violence of Scripture, examines texts of violence in the Old Testament. The book is divided into three parts, including an introduction and: (1) Exploring the Old Testament s Troubling Legacy ; (2) Proposing a Way of Reading the Old Testament Nonviolently ; and (3) Applying Nonviolent Strategies to Violent Texts. The book includes ten chapters that are followed by an appendix that treats the issue of biblical authority. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction, entitled The Bible Should Never Be Used to Harm Others (1 12). Seibert begins by recounting the story of the Mystic River Massacre, which occurred on May 26, 1637, during which New England settlers ransacked a Pequot village and massacred its populace, including numerous women and children. The massacre was justified by appealing to the attack on the tribe of Benjamin in Judg 20 and David s war with the Ammonites in 2 Sam 12. After recounting this incident, Seibert explains: The premise of this book is simple and straightforward: the Bible should never be used to inspire, promote, or justify acts of violence (2). He explains that he has written the book with two particular objectives in mind. First, he advocates reading the Old Testament nonviolently, in a way that values all people, promotes justice, and facilitates liberation, which requires reading in an ethically responsible manner, one

2 that utilizes various strategies for critiquing, rather than perpetuating, the Old Testament s portrayals of violence (3). At the outset, he clarifies that reading nonviolently means resisting all readings that sanction killing (3 4). Seibert lets readers know about his faith commitments up front, identifying himself as a committed Christian (5) and a lifelong member of the Brethren in Christ Church, a denomination rooted in the Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan traditions that has a strong commitment to nonviolence, peacemaking, and reconciliation. He clarifies that, Personally, I regard all forms of violence as inappropriate for Christians, and I cannot condone the use of violence in any situation (6). Part 1, Exploring the Old Testament s Troubling Legacy, consists of three chapters. In chapter 2, The Old Testament s Troubling Legacy (15 26), Seibert explores some of the ways the Old Testament has been used to rationalize various kinds of violence against others. He includes a discussion of how some texts have been used to justify war (16 18), legitimate colonialism (18 19), support slavery (19 20), encourage violence against women (20 21), harm children (21 22), condemn gays and lesbians (22 23), and generally distort the character of God (23 25). These examples are not meant to be exhaustive but are intended to be representative of the harmful effects certain Old Testament texts have had over the years (16). Seibert concludes this chapter with a brief discussion of the question of whether these cases of violence against others are the fault of Bible readers alone or whether the Bible itself is partly to blame. He concludes that the Bible is complicit in the negative effects the various violent texts have had on its readers. The texts themselves, he explains, are problematic (26). He concludes that the problem is much bigger than just a matter of interpretation and that the Old Testament itself is part of the problem (26). In chapter 3 Seibert discusses The Pervasive Presence of Virtuous Violence in the Old Testament (27 43). He notes that violence appears early and often in the Old Testament (27), and he suggests that, at the risk of oversimplifying, the vast amount of violence in the Old Testament is portrayed either positively or negatively (28). For the sake of discussion, he refers to violence that is portrayed positively as virtuous violence, while he calls violence that is portrayed negatively wrongful violence (28). Stories of wrongful violence would include, for example, those of Cain and Abel and the story of David and Bathsheba (29), while accounts of virtuous violence would include that of David and Goliath (30 32). Seibert notes that there are many Old Testament narratives of virtuous violence in which God either commits or commands the violence (32 33). He considers cases where there is no direct criticism of violent behavior and asks whether such stories are intended to evoke the readers approval or disapproval. Seibert considers Judg 11, in which Jephthah sacrifices his own daughter, and concludes that, In the absence of any specific condemnation of Jephthah s behavior, it is possible to regard the sacrifice of

3 Jephthah s daughter as an example of virtuous violence, and this is precisely how some have interpreted it over the years (39). He also looks at cases where violence is regarded as virtuous because of who carries it out (39 41), and he notes how pervasive the virtuously violent texts are in the Old Testament (41). Seibert concludes the chapter by discussing ways that faith communities fail to reflect on the violent destruction of Egyptians [in the exodus account] or to consider their plight or to feel sympathy for them (42), sanitizes violent texts such as the flood story (Gen 6 9), and condones violence it ought to condemn (43) and thus contributes to the Old Testament s troubling legacy. In chapter 4, the final chapter in part 1, Seibert discusses The Danger of Reading the Bible (45 57). Reading the Bible can have some rather nasty side effects, and, as noted in earlier chapters, People have used the Bible to sanction all kinds of awful behavior (46). Seibert discusses the influence the Bible has on its readers and argues that violencefriendly texts provide all the necessary ingredients for those wishing to find religious justification for their own violent behavior and generally make violence acceptable (49). He notes that there are two kinds of Bible readers, compliant and conversant readers, and he calls on all readers to be conversant in the sense of being willing to be contentious and confrontational with regard to the text rather than always agreeing with it (56). Part 2, Proposing a Way of Reading the Old Testament Nonviolently, consists of two chapters in which Seibert sets forth hermeneutical strategies for reading texts that contain violence. Chapter 5, Developing Good Reading Habits: Becoming Ethically Responsible Readers (61 72), calls on Bible readers to read actively, to question the text, and to engage in an ethical critique of violent ideologies (62). With regard to critiquing passages that seem to contain violent ideologies, Seibert provides three guidelines (67 69), including the rule of love (love of God and neighbor), a commitment to justice, and an ethic of life that values all people. He concludes by giving readers permission to read differently (70 72). In chapter 6, Reading the Old Testament Nonviolently (73 92), Seibert proposes five strategies for helping readers read the text nonviolently. These include: (1) naming the violence; (2) analyzing the violence; (3) critiquing the violence; (4) using textual violence constructively; and (5) transcending the violence. Part 3 consists of three chapters in which Seibert applies his nonviolent strategies to several groups of texts. In chapter 7, Confronting Canaanite Genocide and Its Toxic Afterlife (95 112), he considers the accounts of the Israelite conquest of Canaan in Josh Seibert begins by noting that, By any standard of measure, the narrative describing the conquest of Canaan in Joshua 6 11 is one of the most troubling texts in the entire Old Testament because of the way it portrays God as a merciless, genocidal God (95). He

4 argues that, in reading Josh 6 11, readers need to call a spade a spade and acknowledge that what is happening in these texts is genocide (96). He discusses the issue of the historicity of the conquest and relies on the work of William G. Dever to conclude that the conquest simply did not happen (97; see W. G. Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003], ; for a more nuanced view, see Ralph K. Hawkins, How Israel Became a People [Nashville: Abingdon, 2013). Even so, the ideology of genocide is sanctioned in the text, and readers must deal with it. Seibert advises readers to look for internal critiques, read with the Canaanites, read from the margins, and deconstruct any divinely sanctioned violence (98 105). He questions the Old Testament s rationale for Canaanite genocide (105 7) and makes a plea to biblical scholars to stop justifying genocide! (107). He brings this chapter to a close by identifying ways that modern readers can still find value in the conquest narratives (109 10) and discussing the question of whether the conquest narratives ought to be spiritualized (110 12). In chapter 8, Keeping the Old Testament from Being Used to Justify War (113 28), Seibert makes a case for how to prevent the Old Testament from being used to justify war. He argues that Old Testament passages that portray God as involved in warfare are limited in what they can reveal about God s character (117) because they are biased (119 21). He urges readers to develop compassion for Israel s enemies (121 22), put a human face on war (122 25), and emphasize Old Testament texts that critique conventional views of war (125 28). Chapter 9, Preventing Violence against Women (129 46), explores the important topic of patriarchy in the Old Testament and proposes reading strategies for texts that involve violence against women. In chapter 10, The Necessity and Urgency of Reading the Old Testament Nonviolently: Some Conclusions (147 57), Seibert provides final reflections. He reiterates the need to overcome the Old Testament s troubling legacy of being used to harm others (148 49), to be honest about the Bible s moral and theological limitations (149 50), to avoid being negatively influenced by harmful ideologies in those texts (150 51), to remove obstacles that hinder people from reading the Old Testament and coming to faith (151 52), and to help children develop good morals and Christian values (152 54). He closes with a special appeal to biblical scholars and interpreters to take the lead in helping nonspecialists deal with these difficult texts (154 56) and encourages readers to explore nonviolent alternatives for resolving conflict (156 57). In an appendix, Seibert provides A Brief Word about Biblical Authority (159 62), in which he suggests that the best way of talking about biblical authority is not focused on its divine inspiration, historical reliability, or theological veracity. Instead, he argues that the Bible is authoritative or, perhaps better said, functions authoritatively when people take it seriously and allow their lives to be transformed by it in faith-affirming ways and God honoring ways (161). He writes:

5 To put it another way, we might say that affirming the authority of Scripture has less to do with what we say about it and more to do with how we live in light of it. Affirming the authority of Scripture is not primarily about giving cognitive assent to comprehensive statements about the Bible s trustworthiness and reliability. Rather, it is about giving ourselves to the God who speaks through its pages and calls us to live lives of faithfulness and obedience. We affirm the authority of Scripture by demonstrating our willingness to be shaped by these texts even as we enter into a critical dialogue with them. (161) The Violence of Scripture is a well-written and engaging book that will be effective in renewing conversations, both in the academy and in the church, about issues of violence both in the text and among people. I would offer three criticisms, however. First, Seibert s definition of violence itself is too broad. He defines violence as physical, emotional, or psychological harm done to a person by an individual (or individuals), institution, or structure that results in injury, oppression, or death (9). This definition seems to preclude the moral critique of any behavior or lifestyle choice, since such a critique would be defined, under this rubric, as violent. This is a limitation that some readers may find unacceptable. Second, Seibert s premise that all killing is wrong is an a priori assumption. He explains that obeying God and killing people are mutually exclusive (112). This statement implies that every character who fought and killed at God s direction, including Abraham, Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, and many, many others, were wrong on every count. In my opinion, Seibert does not effectively defend this premise, on which so much of the remaining arguments in the book rest. Third, the reading strategies for dealing with positive portrayals of violence in biblical texts seem to me to be too limited. Seibert argues that readers will either critique or perpetuate the violence of the text (3). If readers do not reject the morality of a given violent text, does this mean they are destined to go out and perpetuate the violence portrayed therein? Surely there must be additional strategies for reading, understanding, and responding to texts that seem to endorse violence. Aside from these criticisms, however, The Violence of Scripture makes an important contribution in that it raises issues of grave importance to both the church and the academy. Seibert s volume will be of interest to scholars and students alike, as well as pastors and laypersons, who are concerned with the violence in our world and the ways that perpetrators of violence sometimes seek to justify their behavior on the basis of Scripture.