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Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God

Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God

Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God Book

A recent string of popular-level books written by the New Atheists have leveled the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer, and a cosmic child abuser. This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments?

In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including:

  • God is arrogant and jealous
  • God punishes people too harshly
  • God is guilty of ethnic cleansing
  • God oppresses women
  • God endorses slavery
  • Christianity causes violence
  • and more

Copan not only answers God's critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.

Published:
January 01, 2011
Book share status:
In registry
ISBN:
9780801072758
Publisher:
Baker Books
Narrated by:
Claton Butcher
Duration:
10:39:00 (HH:MM:SS)

Related individuals and/or organizations

Paul Copan (Author)
About

Paul Copan (Ph.D., Philosophy, Marquette University) is a Christian theologian, analytic philosopher, apologist, and author. He is currently a professor at the Palm Beach Atlantic University (Florida) and holds the endowed Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics.

He is author or editor of nearly 50 books, including the very popular, strong-selling book Is God a Moral Monster? as well as its companion volume, the award-winning Is God a Vindictive Bully? He is coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion, The Naturalness of Theistic Belief, Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues, and The Kalām Cosmological Argument (a two-volume anthology).He is coauthor of Creation out of Nothing and Biblical Ethics: Walking in the Way of Wisdom. He has also contributed essays to over 60 books, both scholarly and popular, and he has authored a number of articles in professional journals.

In 2017 and 2024, he has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford (Wycliffe Hall and Oriel College). For six years, he served as president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He also helped establish the PBA's M.A. in Philosophy of Religion; PBA also a B.A. in Apologetics, and it offers a Program in Cultural Apologetics (which is heavily scholarshiped). He is co-chair of Tyndale Fellowship's Philosophy of Religion Study Group, which meets every summer in England.

Paul is married to Jacqueline, and they have six children.

Related resources

Did God Really Command Genocide?: Coming to Terms with the Justice of God Book
About

Would a good, kind, and loving deity ever command the wholesale slaughter of nations? We often avoid reading difficult Old Testament passages that make us squeamish and quickly jump to the enemy-loving, forgiving Jesus of the New Testament. And yet, the question remains.

In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.

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