Finding God by Joseph Haward

'A fascinating, if demanding, challenge to look again at some of the Bible's troubling scriptures through a new set of lenses'

Finding God
By Joseph Haward
Wipf and Stock
ISBN: 979-8-3852-3982-5
Reviewed by: Jeannie Kendall 

 
Some years ago I heard a story, which I cannot now source but which was apparently from Jewish thinking. It was of the angels celebrating the escape of the Israelites and the destruction of the Egyptian soldiers told in Exodus 14. The angels realise God is not present. When they find him, he is weeping. When asked why, given the great victory that has just been won, the angel who found him replied ‘Because hundreds of his children died today’.

Any thoughtful reader of the Bible soon comes up against against the same dilemma as Joe’s daughter, who asked him, on reading the story of the final plague in Egypt, why God killed all those children, a question which in time led him to write this book.

What are we to make of the acts of apparently divine ordered violence, such as the story of Achan? We can dismiss them as from an older, more violent era, but arguably that does not stand up to the scrutiny of recent history. As humans we have not left behind violence in its many forms. Or, as many do, we can neglect the Old Testament scriptures, with a few exceptions. However what do we then make of the story of Ananias and Saphira from the book of Acts?

Joe Haward is a thinker, and this fascinating (and I believe important) book draws on a number of scholars from various eras from the early church onwards, and in particular the writings of Rene Girard. It is impossible to adequately summarise either Girard’s theories or the scope of Joe’s book here, but it is a fascinating, if demanding, challenge to look again at some of these troubling scriptures through a new set of lenses.

From this journey emerges a God who far from demanding violence, becomes the forgiving victim, exposing our violence and scapegoating for what it is, and instead ushering in the possibility of peace. Joe also includes a number of Appendices encompassing among other things a new look at the death of the firstborn, and the (in my opinion) woefully misunderstood character of Judas Iscariot.

There may be moments, such as describing Peter’s part in the story of Ananias and Saphira, which may cause you to raise a theological eyebrow. You may not agree with everything Joe says. And this is not an undemanding read. But it is one which, whether you ultimately agree with him or not, will stretch you in, I believe, the very best of ways.
 

Jeannie Kendall is a ‘retired’ Baptist minister, speaker and trainer. She is the author of four books: the fourth of which, on Psalm 23, is due out next year, and is currently working on a fifth