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[In this book, the author] applies [an] array of learning and of judicious reasoning to his subject and does not fall short in dealing with its many, many complexities. [His] scathing critique of religious-based violence puts disturbing questions to the traditions that wish to preach "peace" as a central teaching. -Dust jacket.
Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding No. Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the his-torical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else? The notion of a flawless human Jesus is a paradoxical oddity in New Testament ethics. According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an apologetic enterprise de-spite its claim to rest on critical and historical scholarship. The Bad Jesus is a powerful and challenging study, presenting de-tailed case studies of fundamental ethical principle...
Preliminary Material /Peter Machinist -- Introduction /Peter Machinist -- Greece /Peter Machinist -- Mesopotamia /Peter Machinist -- Israel /Peter Machinist -- Conclusion /Peter Machinist -- Illustrations /Peter Machinist -- Bibliography /Peter Machinist -- Indices /Peter Machinist.
She opened for jazz great Billie Holiday, shared the set with Marilyn Monroe, and flirted on-screen with Jack Lemmon. In her dream role, Gene Roddenberry beamed her aboard the Starship Enterprise as Yeoman Janice Rand in the original “Star Trek” series. But a terrifying sexual assault on the studio lot and her lifelong feelings of emptiness and isolation would soon combine to turn her starry dream into a nightmare.
In this radical critique of his own academic specialty, biblical scholar Hector Avalos calls for an end to biblical studies. He outlines two main arguments for this surprising conclusion. First, academic biblical scholarship has clearly succeeded in showing that the ancient civilization that produced the Bible held beliefs about the origin, nature, and purpose of the world and humanity that are fundamentally opposed to the views of modern society. The Bible is thus largely irrelevant to the needs and concerns of contemporary human beings. Second, Avalos criticizes his colleagues for applying a variety of flawed and specious techniques aimed at maintaining the illusion that the Bible is still...
"In "Health Care and the Rise of Christianity" Avalos helpfully turns our attention to the care of bodies as fundamental to the growth and expansion of early Christianity. Response to basic issues" such as cost, access to care, and perceived efficacy" helped to fashion an early Christian system of health care that was distinct from contemporary approaches. Avalos raises eminently relevant questions about the role of ideas and practices of health care in the attractiveness of new religious movements, both historically and today." " Nancy L. Eiesland, Candler School of Theology, Emory University "Professor Avalos brings his considerable expertise in medical anthropology to the study of health ...
Violence and religion have been interacting from the beginning of recorded history according to The Reality of Religious Violence: From Biblical to Modern Times. This book addresses two major questions: 1. Does religious violence exist? 2. If so, how is it different from other types of violence? The first question is a reaction to a whole stream of scholarship led by William T. Cavanaugh, author of The Myth of Religious Violence (2009), which denies that religious violence is a specific category of violence over against many other types of violence that we can name. The second question is whether 'religious violence' is a useful category at all. This book argues that religious violence is no...
In this immensely wide-ranging and fascinating study, Avalos critiques the common claim that the abolition of slavery was due in large part to the influence of biblical ethics. Such a claim, he argues, is characteristic of a broader phenomenon in biblical scholarship, which focuses on defending, rather than describing, the ethical norms encountered in biblical texts. The first part of Avalos's critique explores how modern scholars have praised the supposed superiority of biblical ethics at the cost of diminishing or ignoring many similar features in ancient Near Eastern cultures. These features include manumission, fixed terms of service, familial rights, and egalitarian critiques of slavery...
This is the first single volume on the U.S. Latina/Latino religious experience. It features a comprehensive treatment of this large ethnic group, including thematic chapters detailing the roles that cultural phenomena such as art, film, and politics play in the U.S. Latina/Latino religious experience.
A recent string of popular-level books written by the New Atheists have leveled the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer, and a cosmic child abuser. This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments? In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including: God is arrogant and jealous God punishes people too harshly God is guilty of ethnic cleansing God oppresses women God endorses slavery Christianity causes violence and more Copan not only answers God's critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.