Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture

Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of ScriptureThe Bible is a religious masterpiece. Its authors cast a profound vision for the healing of humanity through the power of divine love, grace and forgiveness. But the Bible also contains dark texts that challenge our ethical imagination. How can one book teach us to love our enemies and also teach us to slaughter Canaanites? Why does a book that preaches the equality of all people male and female, slave and free, Greek and Jew also include laws that

The Bible is a religious masterpiece. Its authors cast a profound vision for the healing of humanity through the power of divine love, grace and forgiveness. But the Bible also contains dark texts that challenge our ethical imagination. How can one book teach us to love our enemies and also teach us to slaughter Canaanites? Why does a book that preaches the equality of all people -- male and female, slave and free, Greek and Jew -- also include laws that permit God's people to trade in slaves and to persecute those of a different faiths or ethnicities?

In Sacred Word, Broken Word Kenton Sparks argues that the dark side of Scripture is not an illusion. Rather, these dark texts remind us that all human beings, including the biblical authors, stand in need of God's redemptive solution in Jesus Christ.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Published: 04/04/2012
ISBN: 9780802867186
Pages: 180
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d

Review Citations: Christian Century 10/17/2012 pg. 31
Choice 11/01/2012
Christian Century 05/01/2013 pg. 26