“Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them” (Ex. 32:10). The teology of an angry god in sacred scripture

Orthodox theology holds that God is absolute holiness. Tis holiness presupposes His eternal mercy and love towards human beings. What, then, to make of those pages in the Bible where His wrath, vengeance, and anger are described? Te Christian theological tradition has formulated several approaches toward resolving this hermeneutical difficulty: the allegorical approach, “functional Marcionism” (a term introduced by Siebert), and the the strategy of interpreting some passages in Scripture by means of other passages that are more “elevated” and “progressive”. Tese approaches are critically reviewed in this article. Te author atempts to seriously approach the frequent descriptions of God’s wrath and vengeance that appear in the Bible, and asks how such an approach would change our teaching about God