Monday, July 03, 2006
Atone This.
I recently came across an old issue of the Circuit Rider, an often stimulating magazine written for United Methodist clergy. This specific issue is all about Atonement Theology. The cover says, "What Do You Preach and Teach About Jesus' Suffering and Death?"
Being what many consider a liberal Christian theologian, I often struggle with how I ought to understand the role of Christ's death. As you may guess, I'm not big on penal substitutionary atonement, or the classic guilt-based "faith" of some Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists, (please forgive the overgeneralization). I don't want to worship a "loving" God who requires blood sacrifice, even suicide, to establish relationship with such sinful creatures. Such theology isn't even biblically based. It's Anselm-based, whether or not the believer acknowledges it... (not that that makes it wrong).
I consider myself a person of deep faith in Christ, but I experience tremendous difficulty in attempting to understand or communicate the meaning and/or necessity of Christ's death.
I imagine I'm not the only one, either. This is an invitation to talk about your personal ideas, thoughts, or beliefs on the issue of atonement.
The first article I read was a great introduction to atonement theology. I want to share it with you, (anyone who cares to read a short article).
link here.
It was like a kick in the pants for me:
"When The Passion of the Christ was breaking box-office records, the pressing questions of meaning simply went unanswered. The most basic was this: What purpose did Jesus' suffering and death serve? How could a people whose God is revealed in the cross not have an answer to this question? How could a people whose understanding of the whole of Scripture turns on the cross of Christ falter at this point?"
After reading that short article, what do you think?
Being what many consider a liberal Christian theologian, I often struggle with how I ought to understand the role of Christ's death. As you may guess, I'm not big on penal substitutionary atonement, or the classic guilt-based "faith" of some Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists, (please forgive the overgeneralization). I don't want to worship a "loving" God who requires blood sacrifice, even suicide, to establish relationship with such sinful creatures. Such theology isn't even biblically based. It's Anselm-based, whether or not the believer acknowledges it... (not that that makes it wrong).
I consider myself a person of deep faith in Christ, but I experience tremendous difficulty in attempting to understand or communicate the meaning and/or necessity of Christ's death.
I imagine I'm not the only one, either. This is an invitation to talk about your personal ideas, thoughts, or beliefs on the issue of atonement.
The first article I read was a great introduction to atonement theology. I want to share it with you, (anyone who cares to read a short article).
link here.
It was like a kick in the pants for me:
"When The Passion of the Christ was breaking box-office records, the pressing questions of meaning simply went unanswered. The most basic was this: What purpose did Jesus' suffering and death serve? How could a people whose God is revealed in the cross not have an answer to this question? How could a people whose understanding of the whole of Scripture turns on the cross of Christ falter at this point?"
After reading that short article, what do you think?
# posted by Brandog @ 8:07 PM 
