Southampton Regional Theology Forum: “A loving God and a violent Old Testament?”

5th February 2026, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Romsey

Southampton Regional Theology Forum of the Methodist Church, 
10 am on Thursday, February 5, 2026 in Romsey Methodist Church 

 

The discussion will be led by Revd Helen Paynter, PhD, Tutor in Biblical Studies and Director of Theological Education at Bristol Baptist College, and Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence. Helen has taken as her title “A loving God and a violent Old Testament?”, and introduces the theme in this way.

What should we make of 'all that violence' in the Old Testament? How do we reconcile the war text, texts of sexual violence, and prayers for violent vengeance with the God we see revealed in Jesus Christ? During our time together we will consider whether there are ways of understanding and reading these texts which start to close the gap.
 

This will be a morning-only meeting. We start with a welcome drink available from 9.45, and the discussion will be in a cafe-style environment, aided by the products of a Swedish Bakery from Hedge End, thanks to the help of our local zero-waste shop and cafe, Lemon and Jinja.  We also hope to have a table of related books for sale through the Oasis Christian Centre.

 

John Evans (johnxafs@icloud.com)