Many people compare Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, with the God Jesus revealed on the cross, a God of love and a God who rejects violence. These negative portraits of Yahweh trouble many Christians who live by the teachings of Jesus and who believe that Jesus taught that Christians should be nonviolent. People outside the church and the new atheists only know the angry and wrathful God of the Bible. To many of them, the God of the Old Testament is a violent God, a savage God who approves genocide and who forces mothers to eat their children.

How to reconcile these perceptions of God with the true nature of God who reveals himself to be a gracious and merciful God, a God who abounds in love? My book offers a comprehensive study of the nature and character of God and the proper way of understanding divine violence in the Old Testament.

My book Divine Violence and the Character of God will be published at the end of January. The publishers are offering 40% discount on pre-publication orders. If you want to buy a copy of Divine Violence and the Character of God with a 40% discount, send an email to drmariottini@gmail.com. In the subject line write: Divine Violence.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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