The Yahweh of the Bible is a blood-soaked “Man of War” (Exodus 15:3; Isaiah 63:3)—a jealous deity who gleefully calls for the slaughter of anyone who fails to worship him (Exodus 22:20). This is a God who once had forty-two children mauled to death by bears simply because they had teased one of his prophets for being bald (2 Kings 2:23–24). How could the one and only God of the universe be so petty and parochial, so possessive and rapacious? And, more to the point, what could this God have to do with the God revealed by Jesus: a God of love
