Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God

by Paul Copan

Overview

Is the God of the Old Testament nothing but a bully, a murderer, and an oppressor?

Many today—even within the church—seem to think so. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments?

In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including:

● God is arrogant and jealous
● God punishes people too harshly
● God is guilty of ethnic cleansing
● God oppresses women
● God endorses slavery
● Christianity causes violence

Copan not only answers the critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801072758
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2011
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul Copan (PhD, Marquette University) is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. He is the author of several apologetics books and lives with his wife and five children in Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction 11

Part 1 Neo-Atheism

1 Who Are the New Atheists? 15

2 The New Atheists and the Old Testament God 20

Part 2 God: Gracious Master or Moral Monster?

3 Great Appetite for Praise and Sacrifices? Divine Arrogance or Humility? 27

4 Monumental Rage and Kinglike Jealousy? Understanding the Covenant-Making God 34

5 Child Abuse and Bullying? God's Ways and the Binding of Isaac 42

Part 3 Life in the Ancient Near East and in Israel

6 God's Timeless Wisdom? Incremental Steps for Hardened Hearts 57

7 The Bible's Ubiquitous Weirdness? Kosher Foods, Kooky Laws? (I) 70

8 The Bible's Ubiquitous Weirdness? Kosher Foods, Kooky Laws? (II) 79

9 Barbarisms, Crude Laws, and Other Imaginary Crimes? Punishments and Other Harsh Realities in Perspective 87

10 Misogynistic? Women in Israel 101

11 Bride-Price? Polygamy, Concubinage, and Other Such Questions 110

12 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (I): Slavery in Israel 124

13 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (II): Challenging Texts on Slavery 135

14 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (III): Slavery in the New Testament 150

15 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (I) 158

16 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (II) 169

17 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (III) 186

18 The Root of All Evil? Does Religion Cause Violence? 198

Part 4 Sharpening the Moral Focus

19 Morality without a Lawgiving God? The Divine Foundation of Goodness 209

20 We Have Moved beyond This God (Haven't We?): Jesus as the Fulfiller of the Old Testament 216

Discussion/Study Questions 223

Notes 235