Conversations With Scripture: : The Book of Judges

The Book of Judges―appropriate for Sunday School curriculum or an irredeemably violent book?

Throughout its history Judges has both entertained and appalled readers some read it as a series of simple stories about faithfulness and some as a brutal and bloodthirsty book. Heller explores how Judges can shape our understanding of our world, our relationships, and can provide a path to a deeper appreciation of the ways of God among people. Far from seeing the book as either simplistic or cruel, Heller allows this odd text to speak to us anew about God, sin, relationships, and justice.

Roy L. Heller is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of two books on biblical interpretation, Narrative Structure and Discourse Constellations and Power, Politics, and Prophecy.