What are your first impression after reading through the Book of Hosea? How does the text make you feel? What questions does it leave you with?
Hosea is one a several places through the Hebrew Bible in which the text uses language and metaphors we find deeply hurtful or problematic. What is your experience in dealing with these kinds of books or passages?
It is deeply disturbing to read Hosea and see God as abuser. What is your reaction to this image? How does it make you feel?
How do we engage with ancient literature in a way that acknowledges how different the historical context is from our own, without excusing or condoning the behaviour and content it promotes?
Are you in, or have you ever been a part of, a community that has tackled this kind of text in a way you admired or found helpful? If not, what would you like that kind of community response to look like?
It is easy to think of the stories in the Hebrew Bible as having always been connected – that from the Garden of Eden we move on to Abraham, from Abraham to Egypt, to the Exodus, and so on. What is your response to learning that many of these traditions were likely originally separate, and came together later? Why do you think the writers of the Hebrew Bible eventually wove these individual stories together into one unified history?