of Joshua, because it is my contention that both Dawkins and Christians who struggle with the book have misunderstood the ways in which it works because they read it in terms of the conventions of a modern text rather than an ancient one. The Bible is not, in general, a difficult book to read, provided one has some grounding in its context. Joshua, however, is one that poses a number of challenges to us. Two are particularly worth highlighting here, and they both represent significant barriers to