examining atonement
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Kimberly VrudnyUniversity of St. [email protected]
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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Questions | Comments