Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
ISBN 0826417795 (9780826417794)
Continuum, 2005
Paperback, £9.99

Category: Islamic Studies

Hardback (2003), ISBN 1563384086, £14.99: amazon.co.uk | eden.co.uk

This book will - or certainly should! - disturb you. Taking a no-holds-barred approach to the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Nelson-Pallmeyer reviews the violence-of-God traditions that, by his reading, predominate in both the Bible and the Quran. Monotheism, he argues, has evolved a deity who succeeds by superior violence, thus legitimating male tendencies towards violence. Terrorists aren't twisting the texts: they're taking them at face value — and it's no good Christians pretending the New Testament presents a better way: the violent God of ancient Israel remains as much in evidence throughout Christian scripture in threats of hellfire, damnation and other portraits of divine wrath.

The issues Nelson-Pallmeyer raises need to be dealt with: we ignore them at our peril; but rather than tackle the difficult passages as a part of the sacred text, his approach is to deny their authenticity. To genuinely get to grips with the problems presented by scriptural portraits of divine violence — whether in Judaeo-Christian or Islamic context — needs a more integrated and balanced hermeneutic than this.

Phil Groom, April 2004

Phil Groom is this site's Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He's a regular contributor to Christian Marketplace magazine and is the manager of London School of Theology Books & Resources. Any opinions expressed here are personal and should not be taken as representing the views of London School of Theology or of any other group or organisation.

From a review previously published in Christian Marketplace Magazine, reused here by kind permission.
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