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

by John Dominic Crossan

Here, however, is the intractable challenge. The event of an ecstatic trance derives from the chemistry in the brain, but the content of an ecstatic trance derives from the theology in the mind. What entranced prophets saw in heaven validated and empowered what they brought with them from earth. The result combined both the very best understanding of the covenantal God of nonviolent distributive justice and the very worst understanding of the covenantal God of violent retributive justice. The basic message—clear, consistent, and courageous across three hundred years—demanded just distribution on earth or else stern retribution from heaven.