Abstract. This article proposes a guideline of pedagogical theory for reading, understanding, and dealing with violent texts in the Old Testament. This guideline is a collaborative construction of readers being able to place themselves as friends of violent texts in the Old Testament. This study was conducted by elaborating Eric Seibert, Jerome Creach, Leo Perdue, and Matthew Schlimm thoughts in Deuteronomy 7:1-11 reading. The result was this guideline encouraged the readers to critically interpret the text with a sense of responsibility, interpret it constructively and ethically, and to reject the violent justification of the text that has the potential to inspire and motivate violence as well.Abstrak. Artikel ini menawarkan suatu pedoman teori pedagogis untuk membaca, memahami, dan menghadapi teks-teks kekerasan di dalam Perjanjian Lama. Pedoman ini merupakan sebuah rancang bangun kolaboratif dari para pembaca Alkitab yang mampu memposisikan diri mereka sebagai sahabat bagi teks-teks kekerasan di dalam Perjanjian Lama. Metode yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah dengan mengelaborasikan pemikiran-pemikiran Eric Seibert, Jerome Creach, Leo Perdue, dan Matthew Schlimm untuk membaca teks Ulangan 7:1-11. Hasilnya, pedoman ini memampukan pembaca untuk menginterpretasi teks secara kritis dan bertanggung jawab, secara konstruktif dan etis, sekaligus menolak pembenaran kekerasan dari teks-teks yang berpotensi untuk menginspirasi dan memotivasi kekerasan.

In general, the remedies given to victims tend to neglect the psychological treatment of perpetrators. This study aims to make room for this handling, Genesis 4:13-16, which presents a dialogue between God and Cain, will be reinterpreted from the perspective of the Psycho-theology of Forgiveness according to Fraser Watts. In addition to avoiding the saturation of interpretation of this passage which is usually considered as the etiology of the dispute between the Israelites and the Kenites or the origin of family disputes, this perspective of forgiveness can also serve as a lens for constructing the wisest attitude when a person experiences human anger toward others. The result of the interpretation concludes that God is trying to restore Cain by giving forgiveness so that he can get out of his shame and can continue his life.

Although efforts to construct Old Testament theology in Indonesia started in the 1970s, as attested in the number of theses and dissertations written by Indonesian scholars, the shape of contextual biblical theology itself remains dominated by a one-way model. The Bible is taken to be source, inspiration, evaluator, or teacher, while readers merely listen, imitate, and adhere to it. Yet readers today, who come from dynamically variegated contexts, are inevitably required to bridge-build between biblical texts and their own respective contexts. In view of this, dialogue in its broadest sense becomes the key to constructing a biblical theology overall, including OT theology. This paper challenges biblical theologians to find available approaches and, deploying them properly, to construct contextual Old Testament theology in Indonesia.

The bronze serpent that rescued the Israelites in Numbers 21:4–9 has frequently been the subject of dogmatic or typological theological interpretation. This viewpoint puts the love of God in Christ as the center of attention. Anyone who has sinned but still trusts in God’s compassion will be pardoned and saved without the need for verbal confession. I put forth a theology of vocal confession using the Carmichael’s primary history framework. Even though God always knows and pardons, sinful humans will only find forgiveness through vocal confession, not by remaining quiet because God already knows what we are doing. The emphasis changed from divine healing to the verbal acknowledgement that was necessary for healing itself as a consequence.  AbstrakSecara teologis ular tembaga yang menyelamatkan orang-orang Israel dalam Bilangan 21:4-9, selama ini sering ditafsir dan dipahami dari perspektif tipologis-dogmatis. Dengan perspektif tersebut, penyembuhansebagai wujud kasih Allah melalui Kristus menjadi fokus. Melalui kerangka sejarah pokok (primary history) yang digagas oleh Carmichael, saya menawarkan sebuah teologi biblika tentang pengakuan dosa verbal. Meskipun Allah maha tahu dan maha pengampun, manusia yang berbuat dosa akan merasakan pengampunan bukan dengan cara berdiam diri – dengan asumsi bahwa Allah pasti sudah tahu apa yang kita lakukan – melainkan dengan kekuatan pengakuan verbal kita. Alhasil, fokus bergeser dari penyembuhan ilahi kepada pengakuan verbal yang menjadi prasyarat kesembuhan itu sendiri.