The following on redemptive violence is an excerpt from my new book, Breaking Bad Faith: Exposing Myth and Violence in Popular Theology to Recover the Path of Peace (released at Amazon.com on July 4, 2023). Footnotes on quotes are in the published book.
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The myth of redemptive violence is the notion that you can do evil to create good. Both conservatives and liberals can buy into it. Gareth Higgins put it this way: “The myth of redemptive violence is a term to refer to the idea that we can bring order out of chaos through lethal force.” This idea comes from a lot of ancient creation mythologies that begin with a violent battle between gods, includes the creation of humankind, and ends with praise for the winning god. The Enuma Elish Babylonian creation myth is a good example.
REDEMPTIVE VIOLENCE IN BIBLICAL NARRATIVES AND CERTAIN DOCTRINES
Redemptive violence is the hallmark of the examples we saw above from the Torah [previous chapters] and from the Joshua narrative. The Canaanites were the enemy that needed to be destroyed to bring Israel into the Promise Land. Without violent conquest, there was no reward. Achan was the scapegoat who needed to be stoned and burned, along with his children and possessions, to restore harmony with God, which allowed the conquest to be successful. Without capital punishment for Achan and his clan, God was not appeased and could not help the Israelites win (Joshua 7). Likewise, Phinehas became a hero when he rushed into a house and drove a spear through an Israelite man and Moabite pagan woman lying together. The woman had led the man astray to follow a foreign god. Phinehas was obeying God’s command to destroy the lead idolators among the Israelites, and by doing so, stopped a God-ordained plague that had already killed 24,000 people. God was appeased. But without the death of the man and woman and presumably other “lead idolators,” the plague would have continued, and God’s fierce anger would still be turned toward Israel (Numbers 25).
The myth of redemptive violence is also the hallmark of the violent sacrificial view of the cross. Jesus had to be tortured and murdered in order to satisfy God’s wrath over sin. When people accept this bloody sacrifice that they supposedly deserve, only then can God forgive and bring reconciliation and peace. Without accepting this substitutional atonement, God’s wrath remains, and eternal damnation awaits.
Redemptive violence is transactional. Violent acts lead to an end to chaos and restoration of order. Without violence, there is no help from God (Achan in Joshua 7). Without violence, there is no protection (Phineas stopping the plague in Numbers 25). Without violence, there is no maintaining order or achieving justice. This is seen in the eye for an eye example in Leviticus and in the various punishments of criminals from non-restorative imprisonment to solitary confinement to capital punishment to abusing and torturing terror suspects in the name of stopping terrorism. Without violence (Jesus’ tortuous death on the cross), there can be no salvation for humankind. Without violence, the transaction cannot take place. Only with violence is the transaction made.
The notion that violence can be redemptive is the justification for a variety of global and social conflicts, from wars to criminal justice systems, to social protests, to even disciplining children.
NOT FROM THE PEACEMAKING GOD OF JESUS OR THE PROPHETS
The first reason that redemptive violence can be seen as a myth is because it is not from the peacemaking God of the Jewish tradition. It is from the violent god of both Jewish and pagan traditions. It is the violent side of the two-faced god. Once one can accept that it is perfectly reasonable to expose the two-faced god of the Bible—the peacemaking side and the violent side—and to embrace the peaceful divinity and to reject the violent divinity, it is easy to see that redemptive violence is a myth. And that redemptive compassion is the counter myth. This way of reading the scriptures was practiced by Jesus, the prophets, and many of the Jewish traditions throughout history.
In Genesis, redemptive violence was found in the story of Noah and the flood. Only by drowning the planet—or at least all of the human population in the Mesopotamian basin—every man, woman, child, infant, and the unborn with the exception of one family—could God redeem the human race. Redemptive compassion is found in the story of Joseph. God turned an evil act done with violent intent by evil hearts into a restorative peaceful reconciliation by blessing the victim of the evil act and having mercy on the perpetrators.
In Joshua, redemptive violence is found in the story of the Canaanite conquest. Only by treating the Canaanites as enemies and either killing them or enslaving them without mercy—could God bless the nation of Israel. This included every man, woman, child, infant, and the unborn except for Rahab the prostitute and her family.
Redemptive compassion is found in the prophets when Hosea told us that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. Or when Micah said that God only requires his people to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (not perform violent sacrifice). Redemptive compassion is found when the writer of Proverbs told Israel to feed their enemies if they were hungry rather than kill them. Or when Elijah helped a non-Israelite widow. Or when Elisha healed a Syrian man of leprosy.
Redemptive compassion is found in the Jesus narrative, when Jesus told his fellow Jews to love their enemies and have mercy on them and bless them, or when he taught that God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. It is seen when he made the hero of one of his parables a Samaritan, who took care of his Jewish enemy after he was attacked by thieves, and when he tore down purity codes that punished the supposed unclean and extended compassion on them without forcing them to go through the transactional religious system of the day. It is seen when he welcomed anyone from the traditional enemy camp—tax collectors, women street workers, Gentiles, Romans, and new enemies, such as Pharisees and teachers of the law—into his entourage with no conditions except to change their mind about what mattered most and then live accordingly. It is seen when he taught that those who don’t measure up and love their neighbor (i.e., the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the marginalized) would ultimately be judged and rehabilitated in order to learn repentance. It is seen when Jesus never spoke of eternal torment only judgment that ends in remedial correction.
Redemptive violence is not the character of the true God. Redemptive compassion is.
REDEMPTIVE VIOLENCE DOESN’T WORK
The second reason redemptive violence can be seen as a myth is because it doesn’t work, or it only works temporarily. As previously mentioned, Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “War is a poor chisel to carve out peace.” Violence only begets more violence and creates a cycle that is difficult to end. Violence and even most forms of traditional punishment have unintended consequences.
As far as violence, retribution, or punishment go as tools for change, if society uses them to try to change a criminal, an evil person, or an enemy, it typically backfires. For example, “The U.S. releases over 7 million people from jail and more than 600,000 people from prison each year. However, recidivism is common. Within 3 years of their release, 2 out of 3 people are rearrested and more than 50% are incarcerated again.” This means that imprisonment as punishment does not restore relationships or necessarily change people for the better.
This also applies to children and the mentally ill who resort to crime. Psychiatrist James Gilligan, in his book Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic, relays his years of experience with criminally insane inmates at the Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts. He became convinced the issues these adult inmates faced were the results of misguided, harsh punishment as children, and, rather than redeeming them, the punishment encouraged children to take revenge. “Punishment stimulates violence; Punishment causes it. The more punitive our society has become, the higher our rate of violence both criminal and noncriminal has become… For children, punishment increases their feelings of shame and simultaneously decreases their capacity for feelings of love for others and of guilt toward others.”
Traditional approaches to an evil or disobedient person who is not conforming to the norms of society is to punish them or exact retribution on them. The reasoning is that this will, number one, deter others from doing the same, and number two, bring about a kind of moral balance—the revenge mentality—where justice has now been served. But, as James Gilligan reports, retribution only causes more violence. It doesn’t work.
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Other topics in this chapter include: the unintended consequences of violence in war, the failure or redemptive violence, the psychological effects of violent acts, the mistake of advocating for humane war, and exposing certain problems with the traditional view of self-defense.
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Michael Camp tends the Spiritual Brewpub, which helps disillusioned or post-evangelicals uncover historical facts and insights that help them deconstruct, rethink, and rebuild a more authentic faith or philosophy of life. He is the author of Breaking Bad Faith: Exposing Myth and Violence in Popular Theology to Recover the Path of Peace (Quoir), which releases on July 4, 2023 on Amazon. To get updates and read other themes in the book, subscribe to this blog. To get specific help deconstructing conservative Christianity and rebuilding healthy faith, see Michael’s Religious Deconstruction Workshop. To hear fascinating interviews with leading voices in the deconstruction community, listen to the Spiritual Brewpub Podcast.
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