Rials tackles his difficult subject with courage. Some of his analysis may strike readers as hard to swallow or even outlandish (such as his contention that some Canaanite tribes interbred with demons), but he takes care to support his reasoning with scripture and history. The book includes graphics of scenes from scripture and history to further illustrate Rials’ points as well as a brief bibliography of sources he cited for further research. Christian readers concerned or fascinated by these aspects of the Old Testament will find Rials’s exploration of the problem of God’s violent commandments and acts comforting.
Killer God recognizes that the core of objections to the violence of God’s commands in the conquest of Canaan is not primarily philosophical or theological but is rather psychological and ethical. Thus Rials’s ultimate argument rests on trusting God and the “preponderance of the evidence” rather than any increasingly elaborate attempt to justify God’s ways to us. How convincing this attempt will be depends on the reader’s existing trust in God.
Takeaway: Study of the reasons behind God’s violent Old Testament acts and commands.
Comparable Titles: Charlie Trimm’s The Destruction of the Canaanites: God, Genocide, and Biblical Interpretation, Stanley Gundry’s Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
