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Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence
Cross Vision How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence Author:Gregory A. Boyd Renowned pastor-theologian Gregory A. Boyd tackles the Bible's biggest dilemma.The Old Testament God of wrath and violence versus the New Testament God of love and peace it's a difference that has troubled Christians since the first century. Now, with the sensitivity of a pastor and the intellect of a theologian, Gregory A. Boyd proposes the "cr... more »uciform hermeneutic," a way to read the Old Testament portraits of God through the lens of Jesus' crucifixion.In Cross Vision, Boyd follows up on his epic and groundbreaking study, The Crucifixion of the Warrior God. He shows how the death and resurrection of Jesus reframes the troubling violence of the Old Testament, how all of Scripture reveals God's self-sacrificial love, and, most importantly, how we can follow Jesus' example of peace."The church has a long and tragic history of using Old Testament violence to justify Christian complicity in the collective violence of war, torture, and capital punishment. But Gregory A. Boyd understands that the crucified Christ reveals a God who is eternally nonviolent. In Cross Vision, Boyd offers a way of reading the Old Testament that does not succumb to the false narrative of a violent God. Cross Vision wisely calls us to read the whole Bible through the corrective lens of the cross." --Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church, St. Joseph, Missouri, author of Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God"Many people are leaving religion entirely because they keep hearing God's name used to justify mass killing, torture, and other forms of violence. The only ethical option, they feel, is to reject the whole God project because, like a radioactive substance, God is too easily weaponized. In Cross Vision, Boyd demonstrates how Christians who use a conservative approach to biblical interpretation can detoxify their understanding of God and rediscover God as most fully and beautifully imaged in a nonviolent man who loved all, hated none, and brought healing rather than harm wherever he went." --Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration"If you object to biblical stories that depict God as violent and tribal, ordering ethnic cleansing against men, women, and children, there are two things you should know: (1) you're not alone, and (2) this book is for you. With a pastor's heart and theologian's mind, Boyd points us to the cross, where God's character is revealed, not in conquest but in humility. Harmonizing these seemingly discordant realities may seem impossible, but in Cross Vision, Boyd proves it can be done with grace and care. A lively, inspiring read (and much shorter than the academic version, which I feel I deserve credit for reading)." --Rachel Held Evans, author of Searching for Sunday and A Year of Biblical Womanhood"The heroes of the Bible wrestled with God. That s what Gregory A. Boyd is doing in Cross Vision, and it s what you'll be doing when you read and think and pray your way through this book. Boyd not only smashes our preconceptions on every page, he helps us fall in love with Jesus and that s the point of the Christian faith, isn t it?" --Bruxy Cavey, pastor at The Meeting House and author of (re)union: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners« less