Derek Flood

Solid Trajectory, But Not Far Enough. I'm not completely sold that the "trajectory" reading of the Bible Flood bases his premise on is entirely correct, but for now let's go with it. Flood raises a lot of good points that will, as the title implies, "step on toes" across "both" sides of the American political divide. But there are certainly times where he contradicts himself and others where he reveals his own cloudy understanding of violence, choosing to view violence only as genocide, murder, explicit assault, and the like. But in the end, Flood doesn't go quite far enough in his own line of reasoning and instead tends to embrace certain forms of "acceptable" violence, in ways reminiscent of the very blatantly antiquated notions he is attacking in this book. Absolutely recommended for those that either openly embrace the wanton slaughter of the Old Testament or those that fully reject it, as this will at least open you to the basic concepts of nonviolence.… (más)

This was an audible listen. Flood argues the atonement is less about penal justice (i.e. penal substitution), and more about restorative justice (i.e. Christus Victor). Flood makes an intelligent case against substitutionary atonement. I am a multi-metaphor guy and don't have the same axe to grind against substitutionary models of the atonement (if they are put alongside other images of Christ's work) However I think he does a good job of exploring the dramatic and narrative power of restorative models and I find the thrust of restoration to be significant.… (más)

I was disappointed by this book. Since I first heard of it I thought it would be great. I was under the impression I would get some good insight here into how to better witness to individuals who had been turned off of Jesus by the idea of the cross. Some better way to present the idea of "Jesus dying for our sins" to someone who felt that was pretty morbid. But this didn't give me that. Flood's book was just too deep for me I guess. I lot of differences between restorative justice and punitive justice. It probably matters to someone with a degree in Theology, but for this engineer Political Scientist it all looked the same to me. I had to keep looking up which one was which because my brain just doesn't work like that. Some interesting passages on the love of God, but not worth buying.… (más)

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free advance copy of Disarming Scripture in exchange for an honest review.

The western worldview is currently undergoing massive changes, which are in turn affecting the ways Christians everywhere read their Bibles. Past centuries of biblical study have (in some circles) produced a literalist reading of Scripture that is sometimes summed up as: “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!” However, in the past, this reading has sadly led Christians to support violence, torture, and even genocide - all in the name of God! While many Christians in today’s postmodern environment intuitively revolt against the idea of a violent God, we often have a hard time finding new ways forward.

This is where Derek Flood’s brilliant book comes in. Disarming Scripture convincingly makes the case that the God behind even the most disturbing Bible passages is in fact a non-violent, self-giving Heavenly Father. To make his case, Derek Flood introduces several helpful hermeneutical lenses, such as:

- A Christo-centric approach to Scripture, which is understanding God’s character as fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. All competing biblical voices must submit to Jesus’ non-violent actions and teachings.
- Jesus’ own way of explaining the Old Testament, in which he consistently redeems violent views of God to reveal His true nature, which is centered around compassion and enemy-love.
- A Trajectory Reading, which holds that the morality of the Bible is on a gradually ascending track, moving towards inclusion, compassion, and enemy-love. According to this hermeneutical lens, we need to recognize the many areas in which we have actually moved (or should move) beyond 1st century morality today, for example in rejecting the evils of slavery, homophobia, racism, treating women and children as second-class citizens, etc….
- A tool to evaluate competing biblical interpretations: by their fruit. In the past, a literalistic approach to Scripture has led so many well-intentioned Christians to cause others tremendous amounts of pain - all in the name of God! Derek Flood argues that this surely runs counter to the spirit of Christ, who is about redeeming victims, not creating them.

Disarming Scripture is a truly groundbreaking book. It provides a theologically sound way for today’s Christians to understand the place of violent texts in our Canon, while following Jesus’ way of enemy-love. I highly recommend it!… (más)