Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
1 Creation and Evolution: Are the Bible and Science in Conflict? 1
How Do We Interpret the Bible? 4
What Is Genesis 1-3 Teaching Us? 25
Excursus: Creation from Nothing? 48
Excursus: Does Genesis 1:29-30 Undermine Evolution? 54
Evolution and the Historical Adam and Eve 60
Excursus: Critiquing a Last-Gasp Effort to Undo Evolutionary Creationism 73
Conclusion 76
2 History: Did the Exodus and Conquest Happen, and Does It Matter? 79
The Controversy 80
The Question of Genre and History 90
The Historicity of the Exodus and Conquest 92
Excursus: The Dates of the Exodus and the Conquest 103
Conclusion 117
Excursus: Levite Origins of the Exodus? 120
3 Divine Violence: Does God Kill? 123
God's Violence 125
Silencing a God of judgment 144
Excursus: The Walton Thesis: Conquest as an Imposition of Order out of Disorder 172
God's Strategy for Defeating Human and Spiritual Evil 176
Concluding Reflections 195
4 Sexuality: Is Homosexual Practice Affirmed? 207
The Biblical Theology of Sexuality 210
Homosexuality and the Bible 219
Excursus: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-19:29) and the Levite and His Concubine (Judges 19) 235
Excursus: David and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:26) 237
Responding to Objections 244
Now What? 251
Conclusion 263
Final Word 267
Bibliography 271
Author Index 285
Scripture Index 288
Subject Index 293
