Ethics

Why You Should Watch The Zone of Interest

Zone of Interest picture.

Last night, I watched the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, and I can still feel it in my gut. It taps into present concerns as I survey the political and social landscape of my country and the world at large. Theologically, the film reminds us of what many religions have long asserted—depravity lurks in the human heart. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:1-12; NIV; see also Isa 53). Human atrocity is not perpetrated by “monsters,” but by ordinary people.

A Holocaust movie unlike any other I’ve seen, The Zone of Interest, is a horror film without the typical gore. The terror is in watching ordinary people live next to and participate in great evil—literally right next door. The film portrays, with considerable accuracy, the life of the Höss family who lived at Auschwitz. The father, Rudolf, was a commandant at the concentration camp and the mastermind of mass murder. While he “goes to the office” every day, his wife Hedwig and their children enjoy a luxurious life with death trains, gunshots, and burning bodies just beyond their peaceful garden wall.

In the film, Holocaust victims are not visible. We don’t see starving bodies, the squalor of the camp, the piles of shoes whose owners have been brutally killed. But we hear terror. The film juxaposes the visual beauty of the landscape and the mundane serenity of the Höss home with the sounds of violence—the victims’ screams, the yelling of guards, the trains, and most disturbing of all the film’s overall soundtrack, created by sound designer Johnnie Burn, composer Mica Levi, and sound mixer Tarn Willers. We are accostumed to films using visual elements to shock our sensibilities, which can leave us desensitized to cinematically portrayed violence. Instead, The Zone of Interest uses sound to incredible effect. In this way, the victims’ reality remains very present throughout. In fact, the soundtrack was so effective, it was difficult to bear at times.

Over the years, I’ve often wrestled with how the Holocaust could happen. I look at old photos of SS employees hanging out, laughing, and playing instruments after work as if they had just clocked out of their job at a car factory. Similarly, I see old lynching photos of white American fathers and mothers and youth smiling before the camera in front of dangling, mutilated Black bodies, even taking body parts home as souvenirs. It boggles the mind.

Review: Ethics In Ancient Israel by John Barton

John Barton is one of the foremost scholars on ethics in ancient Israel and his book on the topic,  Ethics in Ancient Israel, is well worth picking up. John Barton has been working in the realm of ethics and the Old Testament since his dissertation days in the 1970s. His book is a much needed and valuable contribution to biblical studies.

Scholarship in ethics and the Old Testament typically take one of two forms: study of Israelite ethics (descriptive) or study of the Bible for ethical application in modern faith communities (normative). The first tends to be historical in its approach and the latter theological. Some scholars see a vast chasm between Israelite and modern ethics, while others find continuity. But, even those who find continuity (such as Christopher Wright) acknowledge that Christians and Jews today do not subscribe to all of the ethical perspectives of the Israelites. This is not so much the result of modern “enlightened” thinking as a difference in cultural circumstances. This of course begs the question, what does it mean for people of faith today who turn to Scripture for ethical guidance? Barton’s latest book does not answer that question directly (his approach is descriptive), but it provides a foundation for further inquiry.

Review: The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns

Book link to Peter Enns's book The Bible Tells Me So

How do we make sense of difficult passages in the Bible? What about the violence or apparent contradictions? Peter Enns addresses these concerns in his book The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Enns is concerned that instead of honest engagement with Scripture some Christian thinkers make unreasonable attempts to cover up or explain away the challenges. He specifically sees this occurring among those who treat the Bible like a rule book of fixed, timeless truths. Instead of a rule book, Enns suggests we read Scripture in the genre of storytelling, with inspired examples of how God-fearers of the past have wrestled with their faith.

To be clear, Enns affirms the value of Scripture—we know God better by reading it—but he believes we have erroneous expectations of it. He wants to help his readers understand the nature of Scripture and, therefore, how to correctly read and apply it. Instead of diminishing reverence for the Bible, Enns seeks to affirm it by accepting it for what it really is: an inspired but messy text.

Before I provide my own reflection on the book, here are the stats. The book is divided into seven chapters that each have multiple, short readable essays. He centers his thesis on three primary realizations that challenged him to re-think the nature of Scripture. The Bible depicts:

Three Reviews: Ethics and Old Testament Violence

Numerous books have been published in recent years addressing challenging passages in the Old Testament. Many of them have focused on the Israelite conquest of Canaan, while others discuss a palette of “problems.” In this post I review three books that engage these challenges. I especially consider how they handle violence in the Old Testament.

Book 1: Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan, Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God (BakerBooks, 2014)

Book link to Did God Really Command Genocide

Did God really command the Israelites to slaughter the Canaanites? That is the moral dilemma that Copan and Flannagan take up. These scholars offer an apologetic response to philosophers and New Atheists who dismiss the Old Testament as barbaric. But, does their apologetic meet the task? Yes and No.

The book has four parts:

  • Genocide Texts and the Problem of Scriptural Authority
  • Occasional Commands, Hyperbolic Texts, and Genocidal Massacres
  • Is It Always Wrong to Kill Innocent People?
  • Religion and Violence

The book is largely a summary of the apologetic arguments espoused by William Lane Craig and Nicholas Wolterstorff with atheist philosopher, Wes Morriston, serving as one of their primary opponents. In this regard, the book serves as “Cliff Notes” to broader conversations happening on the topic. The authors begin by asserting that the words of Scripture are not the result of mechanical dictation. In other words, they acknowledge the human side of Scripture; God does not always affirm what the human author affirms, such as psalms of vengeance (28). That is, we must consider whether or not what the human author wrote is what God wants to say to us today through Scripture. God might want to appropriate the words of Scripture for an intention different than the original authors. The original meaning might have been important only for the Israelites’ time and place, and now we have to draw a general principle from the text. At the same time, Copan and Flannagan reject the dichotomy between the Old and New Testament God (war God vs. loving God), as well as Seibert’s distinction between the “textual” God (how the Israelites imagined God to be) and the “real” God (who is not always like the Israelites portrayed God to be; 39-44).

What Does Jesus Say about Rules?

I recently had the privilege of speaking at Cedar Park Church in Delta, BC for their Sunday morning service (pre-recorded the day before). I am sharing the sermon video in this post. How do we make things right in the world? Especially when Christians disagree on what is right? In this sermon, “Making Things Right,” I discuss Matthew 12:1-8 where Jesus teaches us that sometimes we have to break the rules to do the right thing. If we have ears to hear, Jesus shows us how to interpret and apply Scripture for our lives today. Background Scriptures for this sermon (adapted from the NASB): Hosea 6:4-6 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyal love (chesed) is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. For I delight in loyal love (chesed) rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Micah 6:6-8 With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love loyal love (chesed), And to walk humbly with your God?
Note: Matthew 12:8 says “The son of man is lord of the Sabbath.” What does that mean? Scholars have different theories. The phrase “son of man” is used in Scripture to refer to a human being. It is also sometimes used as a euphemism for Jesus as the Messiah. In Matthew 12, it appears Jesus is saying that human beings have authority to discern Sabbath practice. This would dovetail with how the Gospel of Mark tells the story when he says “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.” Or if the meaning is Jesus as Messiah, then Jesus is saying he has authority to interpret the Scriptures in the method he is suggesting and encourages the religious leaders (and us!) to follow his example of exegesis and applying Scripture.

Rabbi Green on the Bible and “Halakhah”

In my Old Testament class at the local community college I teach students about Israelite law in its ancient Near Eastern context, as well as the meaning of biblical law in Christian and Jewish tradition today. In this brief three minute video, Rabbi Arthur Green provides a lovely discussion of how he understands the law texts in relation to faith and practice. The word “halakhah” is the word used in the Jewish community to refer to Jewish law, but more literally means the path that a person walks.

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