God Is a Man of War: The Problem of Violence in the Old Testament Paperback – October 18, 2021

Well written, loads of scripture verses referenced, really helped me to properly frame what I've seen in combat with my faith in Christ. Awesome book.

I’ve been wrestling, for about two years, the passages De Young covers in this book. This was a breath of fresh air, an answer to prayer. A new, healthy, fear of God has refreshed my soul and I’m so thankful to know Him better through this work. Thank you Stephen De Young!!

Father De Young's compact and robust new book is perfect for people who trust Scriptures and are looking to understand them more deeply. God is a Man of War indeed addresses violence in the Old Testament but more broadly deals with the problem of evil and why the world operates the way that it does. For me, the great gift of all Father De Young's work is to deal with these problems through Scripture rather than speculation. He marries extremely attentive reading of Scriptural texts with his broad knowledge of surrounding societies, their literature and customs. This allows him to shed light on explaining seemingly-obscure passages without explaining them away as merely an allegory or dismissing them as them as unverifiable by modern standards. Caveat for Deists - this is about God working in the world. But for those who want to go deeper in the faith with Scripture as guide, I highly recommend.

I really enjoyed the book. I Just wish it was longer and more in depth. That would be my only complaint.

The author addresses most of the events in the Old Testament that atheist or even progressive Christians say is fictional or somehow minimize away. Even growing up in a Church that did not intentionally minimize Old Testament events that were difficult to explain, they did remain difficult to explain. This book does an amazing job of un wrinkling and breaking down events into a consistent message that leads us from Old to New in un-broken way.

Gives a slighty different perspective, which is always good to make you think or rethink, good to always have your bubble challenged or tweaked

father de young takes on troubling and often misinterpreted Bible texts and unflinchingly shows their true meaning. I never felt he was walking around the "issues" our modern sensibilities have toward OT content. a masterful work of giving proper context to the OT and its role in orthodoxy.

In a church subculture where scripture & God’s character is misunderstood frankly a lot more than one would want to admit Fr Stephen presents The tuft and hard passages of the Old Testament in their historical context revealing that God’s justice and judgement is in fact restorative and one of love, Always, even when it looks retributive because of our lack of biblical literacy

It's very easy to ask a complicated question, but then you have to be prepared for a long and detailed answer. The new atheists have applied a 21st century worldview to the Old Testament (OT) and raised a lot of perfectly legitimate questions. Specifically the question of violence in the OT and its implications for the goodness of God. It's a shame that most atheists are happy to ask questions but don't stick around for the answers. If they did, this is a good place to start! Stephen de Young brings an Orthodox perspective to the debate and provides the framework necessary to understand the OT. This is vital in equipping Christians to defend their faith. A very helpful book.