Options on Atonement in Christian Thought

Options on Atonement in Christian Thought PDF Author: Stephen Finlan
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 9780814659861
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
In his previous book, Problems with Atonement, Stephen Finlan compellingly argues that the doctrine of atonement has been more a stumbling block to a true understanding of the relationship between God and humanity than a genuine explanation of how we relate to God and God to us. Options on Atonement reprises these arguments briefly, then looks more closely at the solutions to the problem offered by a variety of modern interpreters. Finlan's focus in this volume is on revelation, on the gradual human absorption of and interpretation of revelation received from God, the maturing of human cultures, and especially the light shed by modern family systems psychology. At a time when public debates rage over the notion of evolution in the natural world, this book asserts that our understanding of divine revelation is likewise subject to evolution. If religion itself does not evolve, the author asserts, we are left only with an unsatisfactory choice: to remain mired in the past, or to repudiate all that is past, including our Scriptures. Will that be our choice? Or can we resolve to examine our traditions, including that of the atonement, in the light of new knowledge? Stephen Finlan chooses to do just that.

Options on Atonement in Christian Thought

Options on Atonement in Christian Thought PDF Author: Stephen Finlan
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 9780814659861
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
In his previous book, Problems with Atonement, Stephen Finlan compellingly argues that the doctrine of atonement has been more a stumbling block to a true understanding of the relationship between God and humanity than a genuine explanation of how we relate to God and God to us. Options on Atonement reprises these arguments briefly, then looks more closely at the solutions to the problem offered by a variety of modern interpreters. Finlan's focus in this volume is on revelation, on the gradual human absorption of and interpretation of revelation received from God, the maturing of human cultures, and especially the light shed by modern family systems psychology. At a time when public debates rage over the notion of evolution in the natural world, this book asserts that our understanding of divine revelation is likewise subject to evolution. If religion itself does not evolve, the author asserts, we are left only with an unsatisfactory choice: to remain mired in the past, or to repudiate all that is past, including our Scriptures. Will that be our choice? Or can we resolve to examine our traditions, including that of the atonement, in the light of new knowledge? Stephen Finlan chooses to do just that.

Problems with Atonement

Problems with Atonement PDF Author: Stephen Finlan
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 9780814652206
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
"Examines the origins and outcomes of the Christian doctrine of atonement : its biblical foundations, development, and theological questions surrounding it, including questions about its relationship to the Incarnation"--Provided by publisher.

Saving Power

Saving Power PDF Author: Peter Schmiechen
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802829856
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Jesus' death and resurrection are undeniably central to the Christian faith. But how, precisely, is their significance to be understood? Concerned to reinvigorate the church's teaching on the cross, the resurrection, and salvation -- the atonement -- Peter Schmiechen here invites readers to rediscover the wealth of the Christian tradition. In "Saving Power he makes ample use of primary sources to unpack ten distinct theories of atonement, welcoming aspects of each rather than championing only one. Along the way, he demonstrates that while most Christians assume the basic theme of atonement to be sin and forgiveness, other powerful themes -- liberation from oppressive powers, reconciliation in the face of division, and the hope of resurrection in the face of death, for instance -- also deserve to be studied and preached. Affirming orthodox teaching while offering a positive take on marginal views, "Saving Power is a crucial resource for anyone who seeks a fuller understanding of Christ's work.

Sacrifice and Atonement

Sacrifice and Atonement PDF Author: Stephen Finlan
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 150640197X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Beneath the commonplace affirmation that Jesus “paid for our sins” lie depths of implication: did God demand a blood sacrifice to assuage divine anger? Is sacrifice (consciously or unconsciously) intended to induce the deity to show favor? What underlies the various metaphors for atonement used in the Bible? Here, Stephen Finlan surveys psychological theories that help us to understand beliefs about sacrifice and atonement and what they may reveal about patterns of injury, guilt, shame, and appeasement. Early chapters examine the language in both testaments of purity and the “scapegoat,” and of payment, obligation, reciprocity, and redemption. Later chapters review theories of the origins of atonement thinking in fear and traumatic childhood experience, in ambivalent or avoidant attachment to the parents, and in “poisonous pedagogy.” The theories of Sandor Rado, Mary Ainsworth, Erik Erikson, and Alice Miller are examined, then Finlan draws conclusions about the moral responsibility of appropriating or rejecting atonement metaphors. His arguments bear careful consideration by all who live with these metaphors and their effects today.

Past Event and Present Salvation

Past Event and Present Salvation PDF Author: Paul S. Fiddes
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664250362
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
How can an event that has taken place in the past have an effect upon the human experience of salvation in the present? In examining one of the essential questions of the Christian faith, Paul S. Fiddes explores the limits as well as the gains to be made in speaking about crucifixion as a historical event, and considers the relationship of the crucifixion to the continuing process of God's saving activity. He considers the relevance of a past act of atonement to such areas of practical experience as forgiveness, liberation, and suffering.

Christus Victor

Christus Victor PDF Author: Gustaf Aulen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725254174
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Gustaf Aulen's classic work, 'Christus Victor', has long been a standard text on the atonement. Aulen applies history of ideas' methodology to historical theology in tracing the development of three views of the atonement. Aulen asserts that in traditional histories of the doctrine of the atonement only two views have usually been presented, the objective/Anselmian and the subjective/Aberlardian views. According to Aulen, however, there is another type of atonement doctrine in which Christ overcomes the hostile powers that hold humanity in subjection, at the same time that God in Christ reconciles the world to Himself. This view he calls the "classic" idea of the atonement. Because of its predominance in the New Testament, in patristic writings, and in the theology of Luther, Aulen holds that the classic type may be called the distinctively Christian idea of the atonement.

Christ and Horrors

Christ and Horrors PDF Author: Marilyn McCord Adams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521686006
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
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Transforming Atonement

Transforming Atonement PDF Author: Theodore W. Jennings
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1451418957
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Many books on the Christian doctrine of atonement have been published in recent years. Some point out the difficulties of traditional atonement theories; others attempt a revision of one of the classical three types; others attempt to combine aspects of these types.Jennings attempts something new: by approaching the question of the meaning of the cross through close attention to the biblical passages that serve as the basis of any reflection on the cross of Jesus and an engagement with patristic as well as contemporary discussion. The result is an alternative theology of the cross that grounds the message concerning the cross in the socio-political reality in which it was historically located and points to the way in which this message bears upon contemporary social and ecclesial reality.Jennings's truly fresh understanding for Christians of the meaning of Jesus' death specifically grounds the cross in the concrete political confrontation within which it occurred, relates the message about the cross to the practice of Jesus (thus keeping in relationship the gospels and the theology of Paul), and shows how the cross bears on overcoming of human division and sin, reconciliation to God, and new forms of social reality in the community of the crucified.

Salvation and Sovereignty

Salvation and Sovereignty PDF Author: Kenneth Keathley
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1433669633
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In Salvation and Sovereignty, Kenneth Keathley asks, “What shall a Christian do who is convinced of certain central tenets of Calvinism but not its corollaries?” He then writes, “I see salvation as a sovereign work of grace but suspect that the usual Calvinist understanding of sovereignty (that God is the cause of all things) is not sustained by the biblical witness as a whole.” Aiming to resolve this matter, the author argues that just three of Calvinism’s five TULIP points can be defended scripturally and instead builds on the ROSES acronym first presented by Timothy George (Radical depravity, Overcoming grace, Sovereign election, Eternal life, Singular redemption). In relation, Keathley looks at salvation and sovereignty through the lens of Molinism, a doctrine named after Luis Molina (1535-1600) that is based on a strong notion of God’s control and an equally firm affirmation of human freedom.

Atonement

Atonement PDF Author: Eleonore Stump
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198813864
Category : Atonement
Languages : en
Pages : 557

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Book Description
"The doctrine of the Atonement is the distinctive doctrine of Christianity. Over the course of many centuries of reflection, highly diverse interpretations of the doctrine have been proposed. In the context of this history of interpretation, Eleonore Stump considers the doctrine afresh with philosophical care. Whatever exactly the Atonement is, it is supposed to include a solution to the problems of the human condition, especially its guilt and shame. Stump canvasses the major interpretations of the doctrine that attempt to explain this solution and argues that all of them have serious shortcomings. In their place, she argues for an interpretation that is both novel and yet traditional and that has significant advantages over other interpretations, including Anselm's well-known account of the doctrine. In the process, she also discusses love, union, guilt, shame, forgiveness, retribution, punishment, shared attention, mind-reading, empathy, and various other issues in moral psychology and ethics."--