examining atonement

Dr. Kimberly VrudnyUniversity of St. Thomaskjvrudny@stthomas.edu

651.962.5337

EXAMINING ATONEMENT:

JUSTICE, NONVIOLENCE, AND THE CROSS

HOW DOES JESUS SAVE?

BIBLICALI M A G I N AT I O N

PASCHAL IMAGINATION

YOM KIPPUR

SUFFERING SERVANT

EARLIESTTHEORY OF ATONEMENT

CHRISTUS VICTOR

EARLY IMAGERY

ALEXAMENOS GRAFFITO

ALEXAMENOS GRAFFITO

ICTHUS

GOOD SHEPHERD

CHI-RHO SYMBOL

PENDANT CROSSES

PENDANT CROSSES

12TH-CENTURY SPANISH CROSS

SATISFACTION THEORY

MORAL INFLUENCE THEORY

PENAL SUBSTITUTION THEORY

12TH-CENTURY SAN DAMIANO CROSS

13TH-CENTURY CIMABUE

14TH-CENTURY GIOTTO

16TH-CENTURY GRÜENWALD

INTERRUPTION

DIVINE CHILD ABUSE?

CURRENTBIBLICAL

SCHOLARSHIP

First-Century Jewish

Sectarianism Roman

Occupation

Sanhedrin

Negotiates

Exemptions

Political Resistanc

e and Treason

Judas

Jesus and Nonviole

nce

Jesus’ Mission

Pilate

Anti-Jewish?

Resurrection

CONTEMPORARYAPPROACHES TO ATONEMENT

Weaver’s Nonviolent Atonement

Theory

Jesus’ ministry had a strong

social component

Jesus had an activist

mission: to make the rule

of God visible.

Jesus revealed that the reign of

God encompasses the created

order.

The incarnation reveals God’s preferential

option for the poor.

Jesus’ actions provoked

opposition.

Jesus rejected violence and

embraced principles of non-violence.

Crucifixion is humankind’s resistance to

God.

Resurrection is God’s “Yes” to life. Evil will not have final

say.

Satisfaction Theory

God is Violent

Cosmic Focus

Obedient to Death

Saves by Dying: CrucifixionMission was to Die to Save

Nonviolent Atonement

God is Nonviolent

Earthly Focus

Obedient to Holiness

Saves by Rising: ResurrectionMission was to Live to Save

RESTORATIVETHEORY OF ATONEMENT

Archbishop Desmond Tutu weepsduring South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation

Commission.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Palaver Tree, by Michael Ives

JUSTICE UNDER A TREE

UBUNTU

“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”

—Desmond Tutu

“Ubuntu is the Zulu word that expresses the understanding that we are human through other people. It expresses the idea that ‘I am because you are.’ We are dependent upon one another for our very being. According to the thinking of ubuntu, we are all born into an intricate, luminous, and radiant web of interconnectedness, in such a way that where the being of one is diminished, all are diminished, and where the being of one is nourished, all are nourished.”

—from Beauty’s Vineyard

FORGIVENESS

RECONCILIATION

POWER | KENOSIS

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece, 1512-1516

THE CROSS

RESTORATIVETHEORY OF ATONEMENT

RESTORATIVE THEORY

RECONCILIATIONRECONCILIATION occurs by work of the Advocate to sanctify the relationship between humankind and God by

restoring creation. Humans cooperate with divine graces to (re)create Beauty’s Vineyard—a blessed community of shalom and hesed incrementally uniting (re-establishing perfect trust) between this world and the next.

INCARNATIONINCARNATION is God’s second everlasting restorative move: In Christ, God grafts the Gentiles into the

covenantal vine. Christ lives among us, and expresses God’s forgiveness. His death is carried out for unholy religious and political reasons. Nonviolence reveals the nature of divine power.

COVENANTCOVENANT is God’s first everlasting restorative move: God fulfills God’s promises to Abraham and makes God known to the nations through the Jewish people. Prophets proclaim God’s divine word, continually calling for

justice and righteousness.

CREATIONCREATION participates in the life of God, and reveals God as Good, Beautiful, and True. When human life evolves to experience consciousness, including shame borne of knowledge that we have violated holiness,

humankind falls from innocence.

Traditional Theories of Atonement

Characterize God as Violent

Spiritualize Event

Encourage Anti-Semitism

Confuse Betrayal with Obedience

Introduce Conflict into Trinity

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Restorative Theory of Atonement

Characterizes God as Peaceful

Contextualizes Event

Honors Hebraic Covenant

Acknowledges Betrayal

Resolves Trinitarian Conflict

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