News

The CUE Research Cluster on Christian Philosophy & Theology is pleased to invite you to a public lecture by the distinguished Biblical Scholar Prof. L. Daniel Hawk of Ashland Seminary (Ohio). 

Lecture Title: ‘They Left No Breathing Thing Alive’: Making Christian Sense of the Book of Joshua. 

• Monday, March 27 at 1:00 PM (Edmonton Time)
• In-Person Gathering: HA 309 (Pizza and pastries will be provided)
• • Watch the live stream of Dr. Hawk’s lecture; followed by a QA session
  • Remote attendance option available: https://meet.google.com/sbe-uaqj-zda

Speaker Bio: L. Daniel Hawk (PhD., Emory) is a Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. His most recent book, The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative & Christian Faith (Eerdmans Press, 2019), is available for purchase at Amazon.ca.

Lecture Abstract: Few biblical texts are as problematic for contemporary Christian witness as the book of Joshua. What are Christians to make of a book that tells a tale of conquest and extermination, executed in obedience to God’s command? While most responses to this question follow a theological or historical approach, Daniel Hawk proposes that we should begin by reading the book carefully and viewing its incongruities as a key device to understanding how Joshua engages its readers. Drawing on contemporary narrative approaches and tools, Hawk reveals a narrative of remarkable sophistication and nuance – one that weaves multiple voices and perspectives together into a contentious conversation about violence, ethnic conflict, and Israel’s God. Rather than shunning Joshua, he argues that Joshua constitutes a vital biblical resource for discerning how to live faithfully in a violence-saturated world.