We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Frank Viola’s Interview With Greg: OT Violence and the Spirit World
I have not yet personally met Frank Viola, but over the last several years we’ve conversed and debated a good deal, to the point that I consider him a good friend. He is one of those all-too-rare types of people who is solidly grounded in the Word and yet who is not enslaved to traditional ideas. Indeed, in some of his works he’s been strongly critical of traditional ideas and practices (see his book, Pagan Christianity). At any rate, I was happy when Frank invited me to be interviewed by him. I knew he would ask the right questions as well as make me answer tough questions, and he did. I also appreciate the fact that he let me give full answers rather than trying to just get sound bytes (which is why this interview is longer than most, but I think you’ll find it worthwhile).
You can find the interview HERE.
Enjoy!
Photo credit: Onasill ~ Bill Badzo via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Category: General
Tags: Frank Viola, Old Testament, Spiritual Warfare, Violence
Related Reading
Did God Cause the Polar Vortex?
When is this polar vortex thing going to end? It’s March, and even in Minnesota we expect to see temperatures warmer than this. With all of the sleet and cold in the south, it seems like schools are closing more than they are open. While this is not a catastrophic event like a hurricane, tsunami,…
The Cruciform Beauty of Horrific Divine Portraits
“Only a person who is aware of the crucified Christ can properly understand Scripture.” Luther (Table Talks) In the last three posts I’ve been wrestling with how insights from Matthew Bate’s book, The Hermeneutics of the Apostolic Proclamation might help us interpret violent portraits of God in the OT in a way that discloses how…
Why Doesn’t God Heal When We Ask?
If we are called to manifest what Jesus manifested and revolt against what Jesus revolted against, and Jesus carried out the kingdom through healing, then why doesn’t God heal those we pray for? One of my personal kingdom heroes is a Vietnamese lady named Dr. Huyen Tranberg. She is a medical doctor who works with…
Terror in the Night
I’ll never forget the night it first happened to me. I was thirteen, sharing a bedroom with my older brother. I woke up in the middle of the night and felt as if something was pinning me to the bed, choking me, and electrocuting me, all at the same time. The wind was blowing through…
Spiritual Warfare: What is it?
The Kingdom is “not of this world,” and neither is its warfare. Jews had always believed that God confronted spiritual opposition in carrying out his will on earth. In the Old Testament, these evil forces were usually depicted as cosmic monsters and hostile waters that threatened the earth. For a variety of reasons this belief…
How to Interpret the Law of the Old Testament
While there are multitudes of passages in the OT that reflect an awareness that people are too sinful to be rightly related to God on the basis of the law, there is a strand that runs throughout the OT that depicts Yahweh as “law-oriented.” This label is warranted, I believe, in light of the fact…