Free Audiobook: Is God a Moral Monster?

In the Old Testament, is God a Moral Monster?

Renowned “New Atheist” Richard Dawkins claims, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Is this true?

Marcion was a second-century heretic who rejected the Old Testament God — a God of “wrath” — in favor of the New Testament God — a God of “love.” Many Christians, perhaps unwittingly, exhibit shades of Marcionism in our theology… but is this correct?

Dr. Paul Copan, a professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, responds to such charges in this important work. Reading biblical passages in context — and comparing Old Testament biblical principles with that of its ancient Near Eastern contemporaries — is incredibly illuminating…

Is God a Moral Monster? is a phenomenal reference work for Christian apologetics and for Christian understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.¹

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1 Neo-Atheism
1 Who Are the New Atheists?
2 The New Atheists and the Old Testament God

Part 2 God: Gracious Master or Moral Monster?
3 Great Appetite for Praise and Sacrifices? Divine Arrogance or Humility?
4 Monumental Rage and Kinglike Jealousy? Understanding the Covenant-Making God
5 Child Abuse and Bullying? God’s Ways and the Binding of Isaac

Part 3 Life in the Ancient Near East and in Israel
6 God’s Timeless Wisdom? Incremental Steps for Hardened Hearts
7 The Bible’s Ubiquitous Weirdness? Kosher Foods, Kooky Laws? (I)
8 The Bible’s Ubiquitous Weirdness? Kosher Foods, Kooky Laws? (II)
9 Barbarisms, Crude Laws, and Other Imaginary Crimes? Punishments and Other Harsh Realities in Perspective
10 Misogynistic? Women in Israel
11 Bride-Price? Polygamy, Concubinage, and Other Such Questions
12 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (I): Slavery in Israel
13 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (II): Challenging Texts on Slavery
14 Warrant for Trafficking in Humans as Farm Equipment? (III): Slavery in the New Testament
15 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (I)
16 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (II)
17 Indiscriminate Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing? The Killing of the Canaanites (III)
18 The Root of All Evil? Does Religion Cause Violence?

Part 4 Sharpening the Moral Focus
19 Morality without a Lawgiving God? The Divine Foundation of Goodness
20 We Have Moved beyond This God (Haven’t We?): Jesus as the Fulfiller of the Old Testament

Discussion/Study Questions²

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