Thank you for these thoughts, Karlson.
There are a number of aspects that your thoughts touch upon: that God in God’s self shall remain a mystery; that the biblical portrayals stem from cultures and contexts that are often different from those of ours; that our comprehension of God and God’s word—of which, difficult (read, violent) texts make an unmistakable part—are colored by our contexts and concerns…
All these are attestations to a worth-repeating view that there is not "one" way of reading the violent texts!
Rather, what may be helpful are dispositions that look to diverse areas (historico-cultural, literary and theological … are but some) to ask questions—even difficult ones (remember, Job), wrestle with relevant details (for instance, poetry has a style and tone that are markedly different from prose), and theological articulation (the verse from Deut which you cite, for example, might be adumbrating a view that can be helpfully appropriated by situating it within its pericope; and then, within the book itself).
Such a suggested, nuanced sensitivity is geared to find in violent texts more than what meets the eyes but NEVER at the expense of the violent details.
Thank you for these thoughts, Karlson.
There are a number of aspects that your thoughts touch upon: that God in God’s self shall remain a mystery; that the biblical portrayals stem from cultures and contexts that are often different from those of ours; that our comprehension of God and God’s word—of which, difficult (read, violent) texts make an unmistakable part—are colored by our contexts and concerns…
All these are attestations to a worth-repeating view that there is not "one" way of reading the violent texts!
Rather, what may be helpful are dispositions that look to diverse areas (historico-cultural, literary and theological … are but some) to ask questions—even difficult ones (remember, Job), wrestle with relevant details (for instance, poetry has a style and tone that are markedly different from prose), and theological articulation (the verse from Deut which you cite, for example, might be adumbrating a view that can be helpfully appropriated by situating it within its pericope; and then, within the book itself).
Such a suggested, nuanced sensitivity is geared to find in violent texts more than what meets the eyes but NEVER at the expense of the violent details.