Surprisingly, the destructiveness, and even violence, evident within Abraham and Sarah’s family are exactly what suits it to God’s restorative purpose. This family is God’s answer to a violent and destructive world.
Whether Americans adopt an Hebraic or Hellenic kind of theological worldview depends largely on if they identify more closely with an Hebraic or Hellenic kind of Christianity. The biggest determining factor may be one’s view of Scripture.
When reading biblical narratives with multifaceted characters and complex situations, the reader is challenged to decipher ethical ambiguity, think through conflicts, and discover the implications for everyday life.
Yoram Hazony opens the “bottle” of the Hebrew Bible and reads the message inside: there is hope for human political affairs, and the Scriptures are an epic that advocate wariness of great imperial powers and individualism in the face of authority.
Did ancient Israelites think like we do today? Did they have abstract thoughts? If they don’t, then can we understand anything the biblical authors said? Dr. Dru Johnson discusses reasons to trust that we do think similarly to the biblical authors.