Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old Testament Problem

This book is a collection of essays on the topic of Holy War in the Bible from various perspectives.Collections of essays on a topic are usually hit or miss. Some essays are great; others... not so much. This book was no exception. For the sake of the individual authors, I won't say which essays I didn't care for, although, since I was looking for specific information for a book I am writing, the fault was probably not with the authors themselves, but with the question I was researching. The essays that held my interest the most were the chapters that provided direction in my research.Those chapters were these:"Holy War, Divine Action, and the New Atheism" by Robert Stewart"The Unholy Notion of Holy War" by Murray RaeRegarding the book as a whole, it was for the most part a summary of the most common views and approaches to the difficult issue of Holy War in the Bible. Very little new ground was tilled. This is a theologically "safe" book. It will not raise too many hackles or alarm too many theologians.Which means that if you are looking for a decent introduction to the theme of holy war in Scripture, this might be a good place to start.

Overall, Holy War in the Bible is perhaps the best introduction to the topic of divine war in the Bible that one could read. It would have been even better if they included a chapter on war in Revelation (the one on wrath and vengeance doesn't quite cover it), and if they included a contribution from a more liberal perspective. Notwithstanding, I highly recommend it, as it offers several differing viewpoints, all of which are presented with sophistication. It also includes a tremendous bibliography, and each chapter has a ton of footnotes with other great sources to check out. For the thoughtful Christian, for the student or teacher of the Bible, for the Pastor, for whoever interested in this topic, get this book. It's probably the best place to start.

The introduction discloses the problem that the edited volume will focus on: "The challenge of a seemingly genocidal God who commands ruthless warfare has bewildered biblical readers for generations. Much more confusion than clarity continues to surround such texts and themes of the Bible as the blight of religious violence rages now more than ever" (9). Take for instance what Deuteronomy 20:16 says for Israel to do when they have made it to Canaan: "But as for the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive" (NRSV). As a result of the bewilderment by Christians and others over matters of so-called "Holy War" in the Bible, the volume presents fourteen chapters and an afterword that discuss philosophical, ethical, biblical, and theological responses to divinely sanctioned war. Indeed, one of the many strengths of the book is the broad look at the problem through many academic professions.To go through every chapter, giving a summary and critique/praise of each point is unnecessary and would be infinitely unhelpful. Thus the book's strengths and weaknesses will be given on a more general level.First, as I have already mentioned, the book has a diverse range of contributors: philosophers, ethicists, biblical scholars, and theologians. This insures that the problem of divinely sanctioned warfare is thoroughly covered from many angles. The contributors don't all agree on the resolutions to the problem, and this is again a plus for the volume. For instance, Murray Rae defends a strict pacifism in chapter 13 while others argue that God could, in principle, command warfare again (see Daniel Heimbach's essay, chapter 9). Thus the diversity serves to give the reader a variety of perspectives on this important issue.Second, the volume does a great job of dealing with the claims of the so-called "New Atheists". Several chapters (particularly chapters 12 and 14 by Robert Stewart and Stephen Williams respectively) are devoted to responding to the rhetoric and "arguments" given by them. The chapters are charitable but they pull no punches.Third, the volume does a great job of correcting misunderstandings of "Holy War". In chapter 2, Douglas Earl corrects the longstanding claim that the text of Joshua was used to justify the Crusades. Most of the essays also mention that the Bible itself never calls war "holy" and that the term "Holy War" is an unfortunate recent scholarly construction. Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan's essay (chapter 10) argues that the seemingly "genocidal passages" are hyperbolic and that scripture never actually condones full-out genocide of the Canaanites.Unfortunately, the volume may be judged as biased towards a more conservative evangelicalism. As an example, Randal Rauser, a progressive evangelical who has argued that God did not in fact command genocide, is not given the chance to respond to criticisms of his work in the volume (although I cannot be certain that he was never actually offered that chance). (The index also fails to note that Rauser is mentioned on page 270, although this is certainly an unintentional mistake.) The charge that the volume is biased towards a more conservative evangelicalism is partially countered by Douglas Earl (a scholar holding that Joshua is more "myth" than history) having two essays in the volume. Nevertheless, I wish that the volume had included responses to some of the essays, particularly Copan and Flannagan's stimulating essay (chapter 10). Having some atheistic contributors would also have made the volume more well-rounded, however at the expense of its main purpose.The volume also never pulls all the information together. After all the contributors have given their take on the problem, it would have been nice if the volume had included a few essays that combined the philosophical, ethical, biblical, and theological responses into a full response to "Holy War". This, however, would have been quite a task, especially since the contributors disagree, and the volume does not suffer badly from its absence.Overall, the book serves as a good introduction to an important problem that Christians and non-Christians should consider. It will hopefully provoke secondary literature and discussion in the areas addressed. I'd like to thank Intervarsity Press for sending me a review copy.