Week 2 notes

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School

Wilfrid Laurier University *

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Course

202

Subject

Religion

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by LieutenantRoseAnt88 on coursehero.com

The Herem - Herem means devoted in Hebrew, ‘devoted to destruction.’ - Isn’t a word that is Christian as it can describe anyone who isn’t faithful or practice wrongful things? - Herem happens when God shows his children the correct path so he must punish. - The Old Testament depicts God as a ‘Warrior.’ o He is the one who fights for Isreal (Josh 5:13 – 15; 10:14, 25, 42; 23:3, 10) o He gibes Isreal military directive/Strategies (Josh 6:1-5; 8:1 – 2) o He is the one who gives victory (Josh 8:1) - Yahweh determines when a whole town/clan of people is to be annihilated. o God incites the nations to fight against Israel to justify their “haram.” - Joshua carries out herem against several Canaanite cities (6:21; 8:25) leaving no survivors in many instances (Josh 10:18-30; 11:8-14) - Herem specifically commanded in three contexts: o Against the seven nations of Canaan (Deut 7:1-2) o Against idolatrous Israelite cities (Deut 13:12 -17) o Against Canaanite cities in the land (Deut 20:16-18) - Rationale: These Canaanite nations or apostate Israelite cities pose an imminent Threat: the danger of seducing the people to turn from their allegiance to Yahweh to other Gods The Moral-Ethical Difficulties of biblical Herem: - The Three Responses o Questioning the Goodness of God (God is loving, and just) – assumes the historicity of the narratives.  Maricon (2 nd century) example: There are two Gods – the God of the OT or Jewish Bible (demiurge), and the God of the NT or Christian Scriptures (Jesus Christ)  One loving the other evil, cruel, and Sadistic.  Rejected by the church.  The ‘Two faces of God’ problems continue.  The goodness of God is axiomatic for most Christians. o Questioning our morals intuitions – assumes the historicity of the narratives.  God is just and therefore anything He commands is just and in service of the ultimate good  Humans sinners are destined to die in any case, thus the ‘cruelty’ of commanding their death is mitigated  God has a right to judge ‘sinners’ o Questioning the Scriptures (do the Scriptures bear faithful witness to God) – challenges the historicity of the narratives. 

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