"Worth Seeing" (Amy L. Williams)

TITLE: Worth Seeing: Viewing Others Through God's Eyes
AUTHOR: Amy Lyn Williams
PUBLISHER: Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024, (232 pages).
 

Our society often elevates the externals over the internals, the visible instead of the invisible. In many developed economies, people rush headlong toward attaining the 5Cs: Cars, Cash, Condominiums, Credit Cards, and Country Clubs. With that, people tend to gravitate toward those who are famous, rich, and powerful. Fact is, not everyone can be world famous, materially rich, and powerful. What happens to the rest of us? What about the marginalized and those despised by society? Can we learn to see all people for who they are, regardless of their reputations or ill-repute, poverty or riches, seen and unseen? More importantly, how do we learn to see our fellow human beings the way that God has intended for us to see? Beginning with the story of how Sarai mistreated Hagar in Genesis 16, author Amy Williams shows us that amid Hagar's depressing situation, God sees her and encourages her. God assures her that even when the world do not, God sees her for what she is worth. As one who ministers frequently to gang members, high-risk youths, and people who fell into a life of crime, she calls herself a "Hope Dealer." She also works as a "female gang-intervention specialist and juvenile justice advocate." The key is to learn to see people from God's point of view as best as we can.  Williams shows us the four fundamental ways of seeing:

"Tough Questions About God and His Actions in the Old Testament" (Walter C. Kaiser Jr.)

TITLE: Tough Questions About God and His Actions in the Old Testament
AUTHOR: Walter C. Kaiser Jr
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2015, (176 pages).

Not many people like the Old Testament especially when compared with the New Testament. They talk about the violence in the book of Joshua. They mention the wars that God had instigated. How do we explain the amount of killing and bloodshed sanctioned by God? They are stumped by acts of deception and polygamy happening. They wonder whether the God of the Old Testament is the same as the New Testament. They even accuse the Bible of being not only patriarchal but devalues the role of women. What kind of freedom does the Bible espouses? These tough questions are put to one of the most recognized and renown professors of Old Testament, and former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Dr Walter C. Kaiser Jr. In ten chapters, Kaiser covers major "tough questions" that seem to impress on people that the New Testament is to be preferred over the Old Testament. Based on their uneasiness over Old Testament teachings that appear to them as so out-of-date, so harsh, and so "negative," they have often chosen a few approaches. The Early Church had people like Marcion who puts the New Testament over and above the Old. Despite Paul's exhortation in 2 Tim 3:16, Eusebius of Caesarea created a separation of testaments into the "Old and New" that we have today. The 19th Century theologian, G.L. Bauer aimed to distinguish the Old and New Testament on the basis of "two different inspirations." When modern sensitivities are rudely irritated, some contemporary interpreters have simply divided the two testaments into the heretical OT as representing the law while the NT representing grace. In this book, what Kaiser is saying is that there is no need to separate the two, as long as we honestly address the concerns of the modern mind and the reality of God's character in both testaments. He warns us:

"To go first to the New Testament interpretation as the source for the original and final meaning of an Old Testament text, reading that alleged New Testament meaning back into the Old Testament, is methodologically flawed and wrong-headed."

"Warfare in the Old Testament" (Boyd Seevers)

TITLE: Warfare in the Old Testament: The Organization, Weapons, and Tactics of Ancient Near Eastern Armies
AUTHOR: Boyd Seevers
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2014, (320 pages).

This book explores the different philosophies, structures, tactics, theologies, and warfare techniques of the armies in the ancient near east. According to the author, life would be impossible without the army. Wars and conquests are so common that without a strong military, there is no certainly of living. The questions then move toward the meaning and purposes of war, theologically and ethically. The path to greater understanding of the meaning behind the wars and the armies of the ancient near east is to appreciate the ancient contexts of war and conquest. Six nations are studied, namely, Israel, Egypt, Philista, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia.

Israel fought in the Name of God as a testimony of how God will provide, protect, and propel Israel to be the father of all nations. Seevers compare how the army under Joshua worked together with inter-dependence, with the armies under Judges which seem to be independent units of war and destruction. The key to the difference is the spiritual condition of the people at each time. Tracing the development of the military sophistication of Israel, readers find fascinating developments of the armies under Saul, David, and Solomon. Each time there is a change of leadership, there is a subsequent tinkering of the military structure. An interesting discovery is the acquisition of horses and chariots which became more prominent during the reign of Solomon onwards, a direct disobedience of Deut 17:16. While there is relatively more information about the sizes and the types of military numbers and equipment, interpreters need to decipher whether the records are literal or symbolic. Given that Israel is often more hapless and untrained in military prowess, it is difficult to ascertain the actual capability of the God-led nation. For if we treat the numbers exactly as they are, then it would make Israel far more superior and less likely to depend on God for deliverance and salvation. The key motivation is salvation rather than starvation. Unfortunately, over the years, Israel's military structures resemble more like their enemies, which is why studying the other nations will illuminate how Israel's armies look like.

"Violence in Scripture - Interpretation" (Jerome F. D. Creach)

TITLE: Violence in Scripture: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church
AUTHOR: Jerome F. D. Creach
PUBLISHER: Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013, (286 pages)

We have all heard about the common accusation. "There is so much violence in the Bible. How can a loving God permits such gross violence, vengeance, and the vices of murder and evil deeds?" What does the Bible then say about violence? Is there justification for its use? In what manner does God condone or condemn violence? How can modern readers understand the contexts then and the implications now especially in a post 9/11 era? These challenging questions and more are tackled by Dr Jerome Creach, Robert C. Mulholland Professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. As terrorism and violence grows unabated in various parts of the world, more and more attention are being paid toward the biblical segments on violence, especially in the Old Testament. It raises questions like:

• Why does the Old Testament depict a loving God as one who is also vengeful and violent?
• Do servants of God then have a license to kill?
• How do we make sense of God when Jesus preaches love while the Old Testament seems to veer in the opposite direction?
• Who is God?
• How do we read the Bible?

Even believers are often stuck with the predicament of violence in the Scriptures. On the one hand, they can try to justify God. On the other hand, plain reading does show that there is violence advocated explicitly by God. The key is to learn how to read and interpret Scriptures as a whole. This interpretation needs to be consistent with two guiding principles. First, there is no one way to read Scripture, except to read it each part of Scripture with a constant eye on the bigger picture. The author suggests Christ as the key window to interpretation. Second, God's use of violence is always against forces aligned to evil. The author suggests that violence is not an end in itself but always a motivation against some ills of the world.