A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts.2 The break was healthy. To my surprise, however, the corporal-punishment book gave me a new set of tools for understanding the biblical war texts. As with a previous book on hermeneutics, it strengthened my conviction that much of Scripture is written using an incremental ethic, or, better, an incrementally redemptive ethic.3 This of course will be a major contribution of the war book. The greatest “Oh my goodness!” moment came when, in writing