I’m looking for books which critique penal substitutionary atonement.
Any suggestions?
Here are some standard works that critique penal subsitutionary atonement:
‘Stricken by God?’ – Edited by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin
‘God’s just Vengeance?’ – Timothy Gorringe
‘Saved from Sacrifice’ – Mark Heim
‘Consuming Passion – Why the killing of Jesus really maters’ – Edited by Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley
All the best
Dick
Joel Green’s “Recovering the Scandal of the Cross” also critiques P.S. And Scott McKnight (Community of Atonement) is also critical of this view. And the two page paper on my page here offers a brief critique.
And a fine piece of work it is Bob, if I may be so bold - the best summary critique I’ve ever come across.
And don’t forget Healing the Gospel by our own Derek Flood. There’s an in depth discussion of the issues raised in it on this forum. A truly wonderful book.
Cheers
Johnny
I just bought Bradley Jersak’s book and so far it is great.
Thank you for the suggestions. Because it is such an important topic I will make an effort to read them all.
I understand that God’s justice is restorative (must be restorative) and that in our personal dealings we should only ever attempt to mete out restorative justice and not retribution when we have been wronged. But government seems to be a different issue.
Any thoughts on the following. jesus-wept.net/justice.htm
Hi Brad –
Well, you know my views on capital punishment and I have to be honest and inform you that theologians who reject PSA often draw a connect between draconian regimes of punishment in former times and the way these were legitimated by PSA atonement theology (see Gorringe), or between the dynamic of PSA and all forms of scapegoating violence including the witch-hunts (see Heim – and you are correct that the shift to bias in favour of the accuser in early modern European law was a cause of the witch hunts).
And I think I can discern this assumption of a connection in many essays in the book edited by Brad Jersak. Of course you are quite entitled to want to separate civil justice from personal reconciliation – but I’m just advising you that critics of PSA don’t generally make this distinction in the way you have. However, Gorringe points out – following Moltmann and the post holocaust theologians – that forgiveness must come from the victim, and that restorative justice should always be structured around the victim; and this was a principle never considered in justice patterned on PSA theologies where the criminal offended against an abstract principle of justice rather than against a specific person. Gorringe also look at the context of the essay by Lewis reproduced in ‘God in the Dock’ which you cite (it refers to proposals on rehabilitation made in a UK government report of the 1950’s
Regarding Old Testament law I would heartily recommend the section on capital punishment in ‘The Bible Now’ by Richard Elliott Friedman and Shawna Dolansky; this book takes care to elucidate what the bible actually says about capital punishment (and other matters) rather than taking a specifically conservative or liberal stance.
All the best
Dick
Three books on my reading list which I think look pretty good:
Problems with Atonement: The Origins of, and Controversy about, The Atonement Doctrine by Stephen Finlan
The Sacrifice of Jesus: Understanding Atonement Biblically by Christian Eberhart
Atonement, Justice and Peace: The Message of the Cross and the Mission of the Church by Darrin Snyder Belousek