impassibility and their tendency to ascribe imperfection solely to human free will, the recalcitrance of matter, or the like.": xvi philosopher eleonore stump says the larger context of god permitting suffering for good purposes in a world where evil is real allows for such events as the killing of those intending evil and god to still be seen as good. toby betenson writes that "theodicies mediate a praxis that sanctions evil". generally, christians ethicists do not claim to know the answer to the "why?" of evil, pain and suffering. alvin plantinga stresses that this is why he does not proffer a theodicy but only a defense of the logic of theistic belief.: 33 genesis and violence at creation neo-assyrian cylinder seal impression from the eighth century bc identified by several sources as a possible depiction of the slaying of tiamat from the enûma eliš in 1895 hermann gunkel observed that most ancient near eastern (ane) creation stories contain a theogony depicting a god doing combat with other gods thus including violence in the founding of their cultures. for example, in the babylonian creation epic enuma elish, the first step of creation has marduk fighting and killing tiamat, a chaos monster, to establish order.: 4–5, 16, 18 kenneth a. mathews says, "it has been typical of scholarship since gunkel's schöpfung und chaos (1895) to interpret genesis 1's subjugation of 'the deep' and division of the 'waters' as a remnant of the battle motif between marduk and watery tiamat, which was taken up by the hebrew author and demythologized, most contemporary scholars now see the association of the hebrew tehôm ('deep,' 1:2) with tiamat as superficial." "the fact was likely part of the last stages of the creation of the pentateuch may indicate that the portrait of god in gen. 1:1–2:4a was normative for those who gave the old testament canon its present shape. hence, it seems that the account of god creating without violence in gen. 1:1–2:4a “now serves as the overture to the entire bible, dramatically relativizing the other cosmologies.": 4 canaanite creation stories like the enuma elish use very physical terms such as "tore open," "slit," "threw down," "smashed," and "severed" whereas in the hebrew bible, leviathan is not so much defeated as domesticated.: 69, 70 theologian christopher hays says hebrew stories use a term for dividing (bâdal; separate, make distinct) that is an abstract concept more reminiscent of a mesopotamian tradition using non-violence at creation. most modern scholars agree that "gen. 1:1–2:4a narrates a story of god creating without violence or combat. in account, the elements do not represent rival deities, and the story declares the creation “good” (gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). what is more, in gen. 1:1–2:4a the elements participate in the process of ordering at god's invitation (gen. 1:9, 11, 20).”: 4 : 69–72 old testament scholar walter brueggemann says "god's characteristic action is to "speak"... god "calls the world into being"... "the way of god with his world is the way of language." these stories in genesis are not the only stories about creation in the bible. in proverbs 8, for example one reads of personified wisdom being present and participant in creation. there is also what is called the "agon" (meaning struggle or combat) model of creation in psalms 74 and isaiah 51:9–10 in which god has victory in battle over the monsters of the sea.: 34–35 : chapter 6 : 11 historian theologian christopher hays says, there is similarity to the canaanite myths in these hebrew verses. however, he also says the differences are more pronounced than the similarities.: 69, 70 hays says enuma elish and memphite theology are focused on a certain locale, where genesis one does not mention a location (isaiah 66:1); as has been noted, there is no theogeny in genesis; and in the canaanite stories the creators are glorified by being identified with other known deities whereas in genesis, yhwh is glorified by the denial of other deities.: 69–72 the intent of genesis 1:1-2n concerning "creation from nothing" is disputed. jon levenson, writing jewish biblical theology, asserts the creation stories in genesis are not ex nihilo, but rather a generation of order out of chaos, similar to other ane creation myths; the order allows life to flourish and holds back chaos which brings violence and destruction, which has never been obliterated and is always breaking back in. he finds that the writers of the hebrew bible referred to god's actions at creation as a statement of faith in a god who could protect and maintain them, or who could also step back and allow chaos to rush back in, as god did with the flood. he finds that the writers of the hebrew bible also held up god's actions at creation as a challenge for god to act, and a challenge for themselves to work in covenant with god in the ongoing work of generating and maintaining order.: preface (1994) in this, the bible story is dissimilar to both the memphite story and the babylonian in that the hebrew bible says the divine gift of working with god in creation is limited to humankind, meaning, for the hebrews, humans alone are part of god's being. this sense of honoring or empowering humankind is not in any of the mesopotamian or canaanite myths.: 69–72 the book of judges and violence against women the levite finds his concubine lying on the doorstep, james tissot deborah the judge, tenancingo, mexico state, mexico violence against women appears throughout the old testament. many have attributed this to a patriarchal society, while some scholars say the problem stems from the larger context of a male dominated culture. women are treated in differing ways in the bible. for example, the book of judges includes the judge deborah, who was honored, as well as two of the most egregious examples in the bible of violence against women: jephthah’s daughter (judg. 11:29–40) and the levite’s concubine (judg. 19).: 12 scholar author phyllis trible looks at these instances from the perspective of the victim making their pathos palpable, underlying their human reality, and the tragedy of their stories. some feminist critiques of judges say the bible gives tacit approval to violence against women by not speaking out against these acts.: 14 o'connor says women in the old testament generally serve as points of reference for the larger story, yet the book of judges abounds with stories where women play the main role. o'connor explains the significance of this, saying: "the period between the death of joshua and the anointing of saul...was a period of uncertainty and danger... lack of human leadership is viewed as disastrous, for when "every one does what is right in their own eyes, the results are awful".: 277, 278 beginning with the larger context, the decline of israel during this period can be traced by following the deteriorating status of women and the violence done to them. the promise of life in the land turns into chaos and violence. the biblical authors see this as the effect of the absence of authority such as a king (judges 21:25): violence against women occurs when government fails and social upheaval occurs.: 14 non-violence and shalom the term for peace in the hebrew bible is sh-l-m. it is used to describe prophetic vision and ideal conditions,: 32, 2 and theologians have built on passages referencing it to advocate for various forms of social justice.: 75–84 the violence of hell the concept of hell as a place of punishment in the afterlife arose in second temple judaism and was further developed in the christian tradition. judaism subsequently moved away from the idea of an afterlife, yet there are hebrew bible verses indicating early jewish thought did contain some belief in one. for example, isaiah 26:14 which is part of proto-isaiah (chapters 1–39), speaks of "the dead who live no more" as being "punished and destroyed". and daniel 12:2–3, which is generally believed to date to the second century bce, asserts "many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." the word sheol, seen as the resting place of departed spirits, appears 65 times in the hebrew bible, and the term "tartaros" appears frequently in jewish apocalyptic literature where it refers to a place where the wicked are punished.: 22 : 14 more evidence comes from second maccabees, written in the second century bce, containing the dying words of seven pious jewish brothers and their mother who have full confidence in their physical resurrection by yahweh.: 42 by the first century ce, friction between the sadducees and the pharisees over this issue is documented by both the new testament writers and josephus giving evidence of its presence in jewish thought.: 43 in the new testament there are three words translated in english as hell: the greek word hades, which is a general equivalent of the hebrew sheol, is used to identify the temporary place of the unsaved after death, and is not used in relationship to the lake of fire or eternal punishment. secondly, there is gehenna which is uniformly translated hell and refers to eternal punishment; a literal interpretation includes violence. there is one occurrence of tartaros which appears in 2 peter 2:4 and is considered equivalent to gehenna. all the references to gehenna (except james 3:6) are spoken by jesus himself. jesus also taught that punishment in hell would be by degrees (an idea dante later developed) with one servant receiving a lighter beating than others, hypocrites receiving more condemnation than others, and so on.: 21 different greek terms and their differing translation and interpretation have produced controversy over the nature of hell in christian theology. in a famous excerpt from the book william barclay: a spiritual autobiography titled "i am a convinced universalist", william barclay argues that the greek adjective aionios translated from matthew 25:46 as eternal has been misapplied to the wrong noun as it can only properly be used to describe god not punishment. steve gregg quotes douglas jacoby as arguing that most modern exegetes reject the view aionios always represents an infinity in time.: 103 josephus used the term to describe an imprisonment that lasted three years.: 105 as a result, charles seymour, philosopher at notre dames, asserts there are multiple views and differing doctrines of hell within christianity.: 70 for example, aquinas' hell differs from the hell described by c. s. lewis in the great divorce. lewis's hell is filled only with those who have chosen it rather than repent and submit to god. jerry walls in his book hell: the logic of damnation, looks at the 'traditional popular view', the 'modified orthodox view', the 'traditional calvinist view', and others".: intro miroslav volf justifies the doctrine of final judgment by saying it provides a necessary restraint on human violence. tim keller says it is right to be angry when someone brings injustice or violence to those we love and therefore a loving god can be filled with wrath because of love, not in spite of it. oliver o'donovan argues that without the judgment of god we would never see the love in redemption. according to steve gregg, there are three primary views of hell in christianity. first is hell as the righteous condemnation of rebels and evildoers like hitler where god will not mitigate the misery by any degree.: 3 this doctrine of hell as a place of never ending punishment is attributed to augustine in the fourth century and later to aquinas.: 123–127 for another group, hell is simply death where the unbeliever dies and is not revived. others interpret hell as a temporary place where sin is purged through suffering that ultimately produces "universal salvation".: 3–4 universal salvation was the view of the eastern churches before 500 ce and of many of the early church fathers. after augustine's views were adopted as the official dogma, these early leaders of the church were condemned and excommunicated.: 38 for example, the early church father origen "believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of god. origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some