Review article

Newer Ways of Interpreting Texts on »Merciless« and »Militant« God in the Old Testament. Attempts of Interpretation in the Light of Josh 6 – 11

Darko Tomašević orcid.org/0000-0002-4900-8308 ; Vrhbosna Catholic Theology, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The issue of »merciless« and »militant« God is a difficult theological issue. The problem consists in the question how can such God be the foundation of faith? The discourse on »ethnic cleansing«, complete destruction of Canaanites by Hebrews is an issue that Biblical theology engaged with and tried to provide an answer to. By trying to find an answer to problematic issues in the Old Testament, Biblical scientists came up with certain strategies that helped them in their interpretation of difficult passages. Hence, one can notice a number of strategies or approaches in the history of Biblical theology. The first can be called the evolutionary approach and it originated at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. This approach argues that moral principles were subject to growth and development. The second approach tries to deal with problematic passages by pointing out that they are a result of the cultural, sociological, and historical context. Proponents of the strategy that might be called »canon within the canon« opted for »more positive« passages and leaving out »more negative« ones, while disregarding the integrity of the Old Testament. Consequently, the reaction of the strategy called canonical approach is understandable insofar as itinsists on interpretation of all passages in the light of the integrity of the Holy Scripture. In recent times we have witnessed the rise of so-called paradigmatic approach that tries to interpret problematic passages in a non-literary fashion, i.e., by understanding them as paradigms of certain behaviour. The last approach can be called »reply of the reader« and it approaches the Biblical text in a critical way. Each of these approaches has its positive and negative sides. This article is trying to point out attempts of interpretation of morally problematic Old Testament passages during the last hundred years and attempts of their interpretation in more recent times.

Keywords

morally problematic passages in the Old Testament; vengeance; war; merciless God; destruction of Canaanites

Hrčak ID:

170873

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/170873

Publication date:

17.12.2016.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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