The Old Testament Roots of Nonviolence: Abraham's Personal Faith, Moses' Social Vision, Jesus' Fulfillment, and God's Work Today

by Philip E. Friesen

Overview

The Old Testament Roots of Nonviolence brings together a number of issues, showing how they fit together in one exciting story. These issues are: 1. War and Peace 2. The Great Commission (being missional) 3. Social justice and social change over time in the biblical setting This book reveals the continuity of the Old and New Testaments in the development of these three major themes over millenniums of time in the unfolding biblical story of God's creation, tough love, and redemption of the social order. It presents biblical faith as a providentially guided process in the community of faith resulting in global social change that can be observed and described as yeast in bread or seeds in soil as Jesus taught.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498271899
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	174
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Philip Friesen is a life-long teacher and missionary with experience on four continents in a variety of cultures. He serves at Stadium Village Church in ministry to the international community of scholars and their families at the University of Minnesota. Philip is also the Global Perspectives Fellow and Co-director of the Galilean Fellows, a meeting of scholars in Minneapolis committed equally to scholarship and mission.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

List of Abbreviations xvii

Introduction xix

Section I The Soil

1 Paul and the Fallen Social Order 3

The Reason for Social Decline

The Basis for Social Renewal

The Place of Human Government in Romans

2 The Genesis Story Parallel to Paul's Description 11

The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men

Locus of Authority

Knowing Good and Evil

3 The Laws of God and the Laws of Men 24

The Law of God

Patriarchy, the Law of Men

Monarchy, the Law of Men Expanded

Section II The Seed

4 The Faith of Abraham 37

God's Trustworthiness in a Violent World

Confronting Patriarchy-One man/one woman

Ishmael and Isaac-An Issue Unresolved

Hagar and the Justice of God

Human Sacrifice

Preparing to Confront the Monarchy-Brothers in Harmony

Section III The Root

5 Moses' Social Vision 59

A Nation of Priests

Kingship Regulations

Warfare in Israel

Conclusion

Section IV The Stem

6 Moses' Vision and the Other Prophets 71

Judges, David, and the Monarchy

Peace and Justice in the Prophets

Elijah

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Section V The Flower

7 Jesus' Fulfillment of the Vision 83

Implementation of the Vision and Peace on Earth

New Rules for Engaging the Enemy

Becoming a Nation of Priests: Real Social Change

Section VI Growing Seeds

8 An Adequate Social Gospel of the Kingdom for Mission 99

Slavery, Race, and War

The Historic Anabaptist Contribution

Believable Evidence

A Different Game by Different Rules

Peace Belongs to the Gospel: Why and When to Be a Pacifist

9 One Gospel, Many Peoples 127

All Is One: Believable Evidence for Buddhists

God Is One: Believable Evidence for Muslims

Appendix: Who Said that Jesus Didn't Understand Politics? 141

Bibliography 147