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

This has become a go-to reference for me. Copan does a great job of shedding light on the weirdness and ugliness of the Old Testament. He has reverence for the Word and a deep understanding of the goodness and righteousness of God.

Have you ever read the Bible and concluded that the picture of God you see in both Testaments seems to be in contradiction with one another? If you've ever thought that the God of the Old Testament is seemingly portrayed as an angry, blood-thirsty, jealous, worship-demanding King; while the New Testament seems to paint a very different picture - a God of love, grace,, kindness, and mercy, you're not alone.These distinctions have led some to conclude that the various writers in both Testaments talked about a different God altogether. Others have moved one step further and determined that the Old Testament should not even be a part of the Biblical canon. Others still have accepted both Testaments as inspired Scripture, yet have never understood the portrait of God they see depicted in the Old. These concerns present us with nothing new. If Christians have often struggled with trying to find a reasonable conclusion to this important issue, many others who do not subscribe to the Christian faith have all the more.In his latest book, Paul Copan confronts this issue head-on. Using the criticisms of the New Atheists as his conversation partners (specifically Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), Copan attempts to forge a better way forward by looking through a broader interpretive lens that incorporates God's overarching goal for the Israelite people, and ultimately, for everyone who ever lived.The book is broken down into four parts:1. Neo-Atheism - This section highlights New Atheists arguments against the God they see highlighted in the Old Testament and their shared criticisms.2. God: Gracious Master or Moral Monster? - This section discusses the topics of God demanding worship, divine jealousy and abuse/bullying.3. Life in the Ancient Near East - This section is the longest in the book and deals with Israel's developing legislation pertaining to food laws, war, woman, polygamy, slavery, ethnic cleansing and the relationship between religion and violence.4. Sharpening the Moral Focus - This section concludes the book by providing arguments against Atheistic claims concerning the unnecessary relationship between God and morality and the absolute necessity of reading the Old and New Testaments alike through the lens of Jesus Christ.Copan has also included a discussion/study guide at the end of the book for use in small groups.Is God a Moral Monster? is a question that many people from various walks of life have asked over the centuries and continues to be front and center in contemporary debates. The question is one that cannot be avoided and must be confronted honestly and thoughtfully. Paul Copan does just that. Written in a style that makes it accessible to most everyone, he provides a contextual and careful examination of the issues, while offering a more biblically faithful way forward. I found the book extremely helpful in finding a way through the historical distance I face in reading the Old Testament and finished the book with answers to many of my questions. I think you will too.I recommend this book to everyone who has read the Old Testament and asked many of these same questions. I think you will find the book to be stimulating, thoughtful, engaging and profitable. If you have ever desired to better understand the context of the Old Testament, this book is a step in the right direction.

Atheist warrior Richard Dawkins famously called the Old Testament God "a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." Rather than replying to this frenzied accusation with similar flourish, Christian philosopher and ethicist Paul Copan presents an argued, nuanced reply. His tone is considerate, thoughtful, and modest. The contrast between him and Dawkins could not be greater.More important than the tone of Copan's response is the content. Copan has provided a wealth of information and a number of ways to approach the questions Dawkins and others raise. The book is divided into chapters, each dealing with one of the major attacks atheists and others bring against the God of the Old Testament and the ethics of the Bible.In the first two chapters he surveys the current status of the debate, identifying the New Atheists and their major arguments. The next three chapters answer attacks against the character of God himself, including his supposed selfishness, arrogance, uncontrolled rage and jealousy, and unreasonable demands, especially illustrated in the story of his command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (later rescinded). I was impressed by his discussion of Abraham, especially by the way he brought in the whole biblical theology of the Abrahamic covenant and the development of Abraham's faith. We should not treat the OT narratives in isolation from their context, as Dawkins and others do.Most of the book deals with the laws and customs of the Hebrews in OT times, as shown in the OT. Dawkins considers them to be silly and weird. Copan does a good job showing the purpose for these laws, especially for the ceremonial laws, which taught covenant truths, and for the judicial or civil laws, which were adapted for the time and place of the ancient Israelite people. Comparing the OT laws concerning marriage and slavery, for example, with those of other nations of the period shows that the OT is far advanced over its surrounding cultures. In the beginning God created humans perfect, with perfect standards. But after sin took its toll, the "hardness of your hearts" that Jesus mentioned required that God give them less than ideal laws, in order to deal mercifully with them. Copan convincingly shows that many of these OT laws were temporary, but very good in their circumstances.Several chapters are devoted to marriage and warfare laws. Again, the OT far surpasses the rest of the Ancient Near East in ethical clarity and humaneness. The ideal comes later, in the New Testament and in the teachings of Jesus. But the OT laws themselves are much better than the New Atheists make them out to be. Copan demonstrates that, correctly interpreted, these laws are humane and just, especially in the cultural milieu in which they are found.Copan concludes with several chapters relating these studies to the modern debate and to our own times. While this is not the main thrust of the book, he does provide good arguments showing the positive good that biblical faith has brought to the world. He also demonstrates that morality, as such, requires a moral Governor. The God of the Bible, revealed to us in Jesus Christ, is the perfect manifestation of God's righteousness. We live in his light.