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Title: Show Them No Mercy by C. S. Cowles, Eugene H. Merrill, Daniel L. Gard, Tremper, Iii Longman, Stanley N. Gundry ISBN: 0-310-24568-0 Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: With a very close eye on events of Biblical history
Comment: Compiled by series editor Stanley N. Gundry, Show Them No Mercy brings together four disparate views by C. S. Cowles (Professor of Bible and theology, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California), Eugene H. Merrill (Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary), Daniel L. Gard (Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology, concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana), and Tremper Longman III (Professor of Old Testament, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California), on God and the genocide of the Canaanites, with a very close eye on both events of Biblical history and their relevance to modern-day crises such as the September 11th attacks. A diverse, scholarly, thoughtful and thought-provoking addressing of issues that do not, on the surface, seem to reconcile with the teaching of Jesus Christ that commanded love for thy neighbor, Show Them No Mercy is very highly recommended reading, especially for those who are having difficulty reconciling the Yahweh of the Old Testament with the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good on the biblical material; better apologetic needed.
Comment: I'd give it 3 1/2 stars actually, if that were one of the options. This book, in a format of similar volumes, consists of contributions from four scholars who each give their point of view, followed by responses from the other three. Three of the authors more or less agree with one other in the reasons God commanded what the title dubs the "genocide" of the Canaanites (the reasons being those generally advanced by evangelical authors and given in the biblical text: to preserve Israel from idolatry, to judge the sins of the inhabitants of Canaan, etc.). Where they differ is in the meaning and application of "holy war" or "Yahweh war" for today. None believes we should engage in physical holy war, but for example, one author sees it as a model for spiritual warfare in the church.
C. S. Cowles provides a lively counterpoint to the other three, as his position is essentially that God never did command the destruction of the Canaanites, nor would he; he was misconstrued or believed to have commanded it, but God is love and would never condone such a massacre. Unfortunately, his responses to each of the other authors, is simply along the same lines: God is love as revealed in Christ, and is not someone who commands the massacre of whole peoples. He chastises Eugene Merrill for a "clinical" analysis of the situation, as though there were no place for exegesis or philosophical analysis of ethics. He appears to believe in the reality of hell, and the same arguments he marshalls against "Yahweh war" could be extended to an all-embracing universalism.
Recently I read the book "The Pianist," on which the recent movie was based. At the end, they include excerpts from the diary of a German soldier who had helped the author, Wladyslaw Szpilman, to hide and to survive. In his diary, maybe 4 or 5 times the German solider says that the Germans did such horrible things to the Jews and to others, they will have to suffer, innocent and guilty alike, one and all. It was amazing to me that someone who lived through the Holocaust and participated in its machinery, could state that even innocent people will have to die as a result of Germany's wickedness -- whereas Cowles, who I take it has a fairly comfortable life (like many of us in this country) as an American professor, was quick to say, how dare anyone say that God would order the killing of "innocent" Canaanites.
The book did a better job at answer the question, why can't we destroy people today, in the church age, than at answering, how can we justify the destruction of the Canaanites in the Old Testament? I felt a stronger apologetic was needed in light of current events (Israelis/Palestinians; Tutsis/Hutus; Bosnia).
As a totally different evangelical point of view, Glenn Miller in his web site "Christian Think-Tank" argues that deportation and people movements are a better description of what took place; only a small portion of the people, those who did not re-locate, were put to death. ...
In any event, if one thinks that God justly commanded the killing of the Canaanites, I am not sure that "genocide" is a helpful word, as useful as it is in grabbing attention. The word carries overtones of injustice and inhumanity -- precisely what three of the authors believe was NOT involved, since it came at God's command.
The book excels at laying out the pattern and identifying marks of "Yahweh war" vs. other kinds of war.
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