The Crucifixion Of The Warrior God Interpreting The Old Testament’s Violent Portraits Of God In The Light Of The Cross, By Gregory A. Boyd

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

Book Reviews

161

Gregory A. Boyd,The Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting the Old Testament’s

Violent Portraits of God in the Light of the Cross. 2 vols. (Minneapolis,MN: Fortress

Press, 2017). xlii + 1445 pp. $59.00, paperback.

With this monumental work, Greg Boyd joins a long tradition of scholars who wrestle with challenges of a warrior God. Though this concern ruined the second-century Marcion and not a few of his “successors” (deliberate or func- tional), Boyd strives for theological reconciliation between the God of the Old Testament (OT) and the crucified Jesus. Boyd calls contemporary readers to contend with NewTestament (NT) writers and the early church fathers for fresh interpretation of the OT and its violent portraits of God. Affirming both tes- taments as “God-breathed,” he presents his cruciform hermeneutic, perhaps best summarized in Luke’s Emmaus’ account when the risen Jesus rehearses the necessity of suffering and death to distraught and “blind” travelers: “Begin- ning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). If the first testament must be read in light of Jesus, Boyd argues that the God revealed in both testaments must reflect the incarnate and crucified Christ.

To develop his cruciform hermeneutic, Boyd draws heavily on six influen- tial scholars. Whether through Thomas Torrance’s approach to scripture as a secondary text to Jesus the Word of God (John 1:1) or Anthony Thiselton’s con- tention that careful examination of the NT confronts and possibly reverses OT “horizons of expectation,” Boyd observes that his cruciform hermeneutic move in the direction of consistency concerning God revealed in both testa- ments. Richard Hays proposes a Gospel-shaped hermeneutic; becauseNTwrit- ers undergo a conversion of imagination in light of the cross and resurrection, they read scripture backwards. John Goldingay reads “the firstTestament Chris- tologically” and thereby addresses confusion concerning pre-Christ misunder- standings of God (474). Similarly, if George Knight establishes the incarnation and crucifixion not as a “one off event in the history of the world … [but] antici- pated ‘in the beginning’ in the mind of God” (471), Boyd pronounces that “God” must be congruent “for all times and places” (473). Finally, Jürgen Moltmann, a premier theologian of the “crucified God,” argues that God must be understood wholly in light of what happened on the cross and, therefore, fully antithetical to all violence.

Not only does Boyd rely upon these scholars, but he also argues that his (and their) views have the church fathers on their side. For readings of the OT, not least the violent portraits of God, the fathers perceive that “something else is going on” and seek a spiritual meaning. Not surprisingly, Augustine becomes the first to utilize advantages of a warrior God for emerging Christendom.

PNEUMA

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/15700747-04101006

1

162

Book Reviews

To get at the “something else” that “is going on,” Boyd advances four princi- ples. First, if the crucified Christ fully displays God’s character and unwavering love,OTportraits of a violent God must be perceived through the lens of cruci- form accommodation. God acts as a “heavenly missionary” not unlike modern missionaries who accommodate their cultural beliefs and practices to reach people. SinceOTwriters cannot escape the socio-religious assumptions of their neighbors, God wears the mask of a warrior God in a world filled withANEwar- rior deities.

Second, God delivers wrath not through violence, but by withdrawing his protective presence. Careful reading of biblical narratives discloses a principle of redemptive withdrawal, where God allows evil to produce its inevitable end, namely self-destruction. Jesus experiences wrath not because a violent God desperately needs to be appeased, but because God withdraws his protection of Jesus. Boyd argues further that God suffers immeasurably more than those who suffer evil at the hands of evil.

Third, the violence carried out against Jesus displays the principle of cosmic conflict. All violence, including the death of Jesus, comes from hands of fallen humans under the deceptive influence of the one who comes “only to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). But once again, Satan’s evil boomerangs, and his kingdom comes to nothing (1Cor 2:6; Col. 2:14–15).

Finally, Boyd contends that God’s gracious unleashing of divine power yields both redemptive and destructive results. Boyd’s principle of semiautonomous power enables God’s agents such as Moses, Elijah, and Samson to abuse God’s power; violence in the OT reveals agents of a “non-coercive God who respects the integrity of personhood and free will” (1213). In contrast, Jesus, though fully capable of falling prey to the appetites of previous agents, chooses not to use God’s power violently and for his own accolades (Mt 4:1–11). Jesus defeats evil through suffering. He changes the horizon when he refuses his bloodthirsty disciples’ call for fire upon Samaritans and thereby rebukes Elijah’s incinera- tion miracle (compare 2Kings 2 with Lk 9:51–57). The final “Revelation” reveals that the triumphant lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb with marks of slaugh- ter (Rev 5:5–6) and a “sword coming out of his mouth” (Rev 1:16), pronounces faithful and true witness to God’s unchanging character (1249).

As co-founder and current senior pastor of Woodland Hills in St. Paul, MN, Boyd embodies the rare combination of pastor-scholar. With more than 1400 pages including ten appendices and forty pages of bibliography, Boyd models honest and fearless pursuit of theological consistency both as an academician and a vulnerable pastor. This work, possibly his magnum opus, intersects well with a lifetime of scholarship on difficult and controversial subjects. In reject- ingThe Myth of a Christian Nation, Boyd rescues God from rabid proponents of

PNEUMA 41 (2019) 111–185

2

Book Reviews

163

manifest destiny; inGod of the Possible, Boyd allows a sovereign and “open” God to operate alongside the often destructive free will of human agency; and in Oneness and Trinity, Boyd chronicles his journey from Oneness Pentecostalism to a robust trinitarianism. These works demonstrate Boyd’s extended personal, scholarly, and pastoral quest to reconcile the warrior God and crucified Jesus.

Readers in the Pentecostal tradition will have much to ponder. Though I find Boyd’s conclusions compelling, I fear his thesis may be too narrow. Is Boyd so centered on the cross that he overlooks Jesus’ paradigmatic life and ministry? While Boyd’s focus on the crucified Christ deserves applause, is it necessary for the cruciform hermeneutic to eclipse the christocentric hermeneutic? What about the fullness of God’s love performed by the living Jesus in his embrace of the marginalized, his enemy love, and his barrier-breaking inclusivity? And what about life in the Spirit? If the Spirit is indeed the Spirit of Christ, Boyd mightdowelltoemphasizefurthertheimplicationsof Jesusbothfilledwiththe Spirit and baptizer in the Spirit. Christian discipleship surely includes not only a journey to the cross, but imitation and extension of the living Jesus. I wonder if Pentecostal readers might demand more out of a self-described charismatic Anabaptist. Finally, I advise readers to recall our early Pentecostal commit- ment to nonviolence. Though Boyd remains resolutely focused on hermeneu- tics and exegesis and seldom addresses pastoral implications (see his popular and shorter Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Make Sense of Old Testa- ment Violence [Fortress, 2017]), his conclusions speak prophetically against all attempts to link military activity with God’s work. And contrary to the increas- ing proclivities of Pentecostals for convergence of Pax Christi with Pax Amer- icana, Boyd gives pause to those who surmise that a nonviolent God seeks violent devotees (20).

Martin W. Mittelstadt

Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri MittelstadtM@evangel.edu

PNEUMA 41 (2019) 111–185

3