How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation

by John Dominic Crossan

God’s socio-subversive decision is that “the elder shall serve the younger” (25:23). We have, in Genesis 4:4b–5a, preliminary warning of that cultural challenge as God prefers Abel over Cain. That divine preference sets up the movement of the drama. What will Cain do to Abel in revenge for God’s snub? What