Monotheism Power Justice

"Since the mid-sixties, a steady stream of essays and addresses has come from the pen and heart of Millard Lind. Millard began his teaching career at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in 1959. During the early years of his teaching a major portion of Millard's scholarly energies went toward the refinement of his doctoral dissertation, in order to be published. Its final form appeared in the Herald Press book, Yahweh Is a Warrior. This book represents a landmark in studies on the topic of Yahweh's warfare as presented in the Hebrew Scriptures. It has numerous critical reviews, and has generally stood the test of the scholarly picking and pruning. Alongside this major work Millard has turned out numerous essays, some playing a supportive role to his Yahweh Is a Warrior thesis, but many pioneering in new directions as well. As the four divisions in the table of contents indicate, these essays represent work in at least four areas of probing in the Hebrew Scriptures: method; aspects of law, justice, and power; war and economics; and worship, mission, and community. This range of investigation and productivity indicates the holistic perspective of Millard's scholarly concern and theological reflection. In part it also testifies to Millard's role as a churchman, since some of these investigations grew out of specific requests of various groups or congregations to address a particular issue." --From the Foreword by William Swartley

The term Ethical Monotheism is an important marker in Judaism’s tumultuous transition into the modern era. The term emerged in the context of culture-wars concerning the question of whether or not Jews could or should become emancipated citizens of modern European states. It appeared in arguments whether or not Judaism could be considered a Religion of Reason—a symbolic, motivational representation of a universal morality, and in debates about whether or not Judaism could or should reform itself into a Religion of Reason. This book is both a decisive departure from such discussions and an attempt to add a further, post-modern, statement to their ongoing development. As departure, it refuses to take for granted a philosophical conception of Religion of Reason as the standard for Ethical Monotheism according to which Judaism was to be evaluated or reformed. As continuation, the book undertakes a phenomenology of Jewish modes of ethical religiosity that allows it to inquire what kind of ethical monotheism Judaism might be. Through sophisticated analysis of select "snapshots," or "fragments of a hologram," guided by a robust theory of religion, the author discloses Judaic ethical monotheism as an ongoing wrestling with the meaning of justice. By closely examining five main "snapshots" of this long process—the Bible, rabbinic Judaism, Maimonides, The Zohar, and the modern philosophers, Buber and Levinas—the author offers his own constructive philosophy of Judaism and his own distinctive philosophy of religion. Ethical Monotheism offers a new way to think about Judaism as a religion and as a coherent philosophical debate, and demonstrates the need to integrate philosophy, history, cognitive psychology, anthropology, theology, and history of science in the study of "religion."

Do atonement theologies that focus on Jesus' death underwrite human violence? If so, we do well to rethink beliefs that this death is necessary to bring salvation. Focusing on the Bible's salvation story, Instead of Atonement argues for a logic of mercy to replace Christianity's traditional logic of retribution. The book traces the Bible's main salvation story through God's liberating acts, the testimony of the prophets, and Jesus's life and teaching. It then takes a closer look at Jesus's death and argues that his death gains its meaning when it exposes violence in the cultural, religious, and political Powers. God's raising of Jesus completes the story and vindicates Jesus's life and teaching. The book also examines the understandings of salvation in Romans and Revelation that reinforce the message that salvation is a gift of God and that Jesus's "work" has to do with his faithful life, his resistance to the Powers, and God's vindication of him through resurrection. The book concludes that the "Bible's salvation story" provides a different way, instead of atonement, to understand salvation. In turn, this biblical understanding gives us today theological resources for a mercy-oriented approach to responding to wrongdoing, one that follows God's own model.

How do we deal with crime? It is inescapable. Since 1960, crime in the U.S. has increased 500% while the population has grown by only 41%. What is our responsibility to the victim and the offender? What is the Christian response? Explore the inadequacies of North American criminal justice systems and discover the alternative the Bible has to offer. Listen to stories of those involved in the system and from those pursuing a more restorative justice. Hear clearly God's words of hope, challenge, and counsel.

This first part of a 2-volume work, this study combines recent approaches that treat the formation and early interpretation of the final form of the book of Isaiah with the more conventional historical-critical methods that treat the use of traditions by Isaiah's authors and editors. Studies investigate Isaiah's use of early sacred tradition, the editing and contextualization of oracles within the Isaianic tradition itself, and the interpretation of the book of Isaiah in later traditions (as seen in the various versions of the text and various communities). Contributors of this volume include virtually all of the major scholars of Isaiah and the leading scholars of biblical interpretation in the intertestamental, New Testament, and early Jewish periods.

The studies in this volume investigate Isaiah's use of early sacred tradition, the editing and contextualization of oracles within the Isaianic tradition itself, and the interpretation of the book of Isaiah in later traditions (as in the various versions and interpretations of the text).

This book reviews current research from several disciplines to help you understand the nature and impact of the relationship between faith-based programs, religion, and offender rehabilitation. Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders is a unique resourcethere has been very little research published on this important topic. This pathbreaking book points the way to a system of faith-based programs that are not only effective but are also economically sound.