War in the Bible and Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century

by Richard S. Hess (Editor), Elmer A. Martens (Editor)

In February 2004, Denver Seminary’s annual Biblical Studies conference addressed the question of modern war and the teachings of biblical ethics regarding it. The conference was envisioned as a collaborative effort between the Association for Christian Conferences, Teaching, and Service (ACCTS), and the Biblical Studies division of Denver Seminary. A year earlier, the invasion of Iraq had taken place. The questions created by the outbreak of war prompted an urgency in the consideration of the topic. ACCTS, which sponsors international symposia in military ethics with officers from armed forces around the globe, provided ethicists and practitioners from within the military of both the U.S. and Great Britain. Hess and Martens also solicited papers from leading theologians and advocates representing pacifist and just-war views. They have succeeded in bringing together in this fine volume a group of Christians representing a wide range of perspectives to debate and discuss their heritage and biblical roots with regard to questions of war and its ethical dilemmas.

164 pages, Hardcover

Published June 30, 2008

About the author

Richard S. Hess (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado, and editor of the Denver Journal. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including Israelite Religions, Song of Songs in the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, and the commentary on Joshua in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series.

Reviews

[Rachel Turner-Poteet]

Volf’s paper is amazing. Some of Hess’ readings are sloppy and his arguments about Nelson and Rowlett’s work are too dismissive. I liked his engagement with Niditch. Just for the sake of the Volf paper I would recommend giving it a read.

[Brad]

A collection of thoughtful essays from 2004 addressing the issues surrounding war and terrorism inside and outside of the Bible, along with the ethical dilemmas war creates.

The opening essay by Miroslav Volf ably handles the charges that Christianity (and Monotheism) encourages violence. Volf shows the opposite is true. Richard Hess writes the second essay tracing the theme of war throughout the Bible stopping to deal with issues such as the conquest of Canaan. The third essay is written by Elmer Martens, who unpacks how at the center of Christianity is Jesus on the cross overcoming violence by absorbing it (cf. 1Pet 2). (The remaining essays, dealing with issues of just-war theory, terrorism, the war in Iraq and the like, were skimmed.)