Week 24 - Isaiah 56 - 59
“The biblical God is, on the one hand, a God of nonviolent distributive justice and, on the other hand, a God of violent retributive justice.”
- John Dominic Crossan
This week we take a look at the two conflicting visions of God found throughout Isaiah (and the entire Bible)— one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God. Encountering these two seeming aspects of God has been a roller-coaster ride throughout our study! How do we reconcile the two? How can both be in the same Bible?
To help us ponder the issue, we were guided by a book by Bible scholar John Dominic Crossan called How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation. In it, Crossan grapples with these two conflicting visions of Jesus and God in Scripture. As Pete Enns says in his excellent review of the book, the descriptions of God’s diverse and often contradictory nature in the Bible “…continue to elude convenient and conventional explanations.”
Here are two quotes from John Dominic Crossan and two questions to ponder:
"The heartbeat of the Christian bible is a recurrent cardiac cycle in which the asserted radicality of God’s nonviolent distributive justice is subverted by the normalcy of civilization’s violent retributive justice."
"Both the Prophetic and psalmic traditions are extremely ambiguous on the character of God. Indeed, there is almost a rhythm of assertion-and-subversion within and across each tradition. On the one hand, both traditions presume a God of nonviolent distributive justice and a world that should be managed in the image and likeness of that God. On the other hand, both traditions hold that vision in acute dialectic with a God of violent retributive justice. You will have heaven on earth, says their God, or I will give you hell here instead."
- Marty
Questions for Reflection
- Where have you seen this pattern in Isaiah (up to now and as we continue through third Isaiah)?
- Do you experience this same tension in your own life? (the radical ideal of the way of Jesus subverted by the practicality of living in our civilization)?
