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Religious discussion these days often lacks nuance. Luckily, historian David Nirenberg of the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought has plenty to spare for the rest of us. He recently reviewed Michael Gaddis’s new book, There Is No Crime For Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire, in the New Republic (paid subscription required). Nirenberg writes:
“For this is the voice of God, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ and this is the same God’s voice, ‘If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, you shall kill both.’ One God and two contending voices. When Phinehas, son of a priest, found an adulterer with an adulteress, he raised his hand with his weapon, and stood uncertain between the two voices of God. If he struck, he would sin; if he did not strike, he would fail in duty. He chose the better sin, to strike the blow.”
