atonement

The suffering servant poem of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is set in the middle of prophecies about the restoration of oppressed and disgraced Israel. Immediately preceding it is the announcement to Zion that ‘your God reigns’, that the wretched exiles will be brought back, that God has acted to redeem Jerusalem ‘before the eyes of all the nations’, that there will be singing and rejoicing because God has comforted his people (52:7-10). Immediately after is the exultant address to the barren, desolate wife: the time of suffering, shame, reproach, when God in his anger hid his face from her, is over, and her many children ‘will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities’ (54:3). In both instances the promise is that desolate, humiliated Israel will be restored and will prosper.

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The discussion between Graham and Peter about the centrality or otherwise of the cross starting here was running out of space, so I will make this contribution a separate post. Peter’s view is that the cross must be central to our theology; Graham’s response is that in practice this leads to a downplaying of discipleship and ethics. It seems to me that this rather highlights the problem that we typically define ourselves with reference to some part of the New Testament material and with too little regard for the narrative whole and its connection with history.

continue reading "The story of Jesus and the place of the cross"

The discussion between Graham and Peter about the centrality or otherwise of the cross starting here was running out of space, so I will make this contribution a separate post. Peter’s view is that the cross must be central to our theology; Graham’s response is that in practice this leads to a downplaying of discipleship and ethics. It seems to me that this rather highlights the problem that we typically define ourselves with reference to some part of the New Testament material and with too little regard for the narrative whole and its connection with history.

continue reading "The story of Jesus and the place of the cross"

The first and most important question we face in asking about the meaning of Jesus’ death in Paul is: What sort of thing are we looking for? This is necessarily a highly abbreviated analysis, but I think that what we need to find is not the right explanatory theory to superimpose on top of Paul’s various arguments and metaphors (substitutionary atonement, Christus Victor, moral influence, etc.) but the eschatological narrative that lies underneath them. The mistake that is typically made is to isolate the cross from the narrative context and transmute it into a singular metaphysical event that can in principle be formulated in terms of a theory of the atonement. This is not necessarily an illegitimate procedure, but problems arise when these theological constructs are turned round and used as interpretive grids for the reading of scripture.

continue reading "The death of Jesus in Paul"

I am holding a couple of Bible studies on the meaning of Jesus’ death tonight and next Monday here in the Hague. The following brief notes outline what I think are the main interpretive perspectives on his death in the Gospels. Next week I will look at Paul. To my mind, the main points to be grasped from these perspectives are i) that we need to make sense of Jesus’ death primarily within a (multilayered) narrative rather than systematic theological framework; and ii) that at least in the Gospels his death is understood as being not for humanity but for Israel. In essence, his death is interpreted by means of various extended stories drawn from the Old Testament that articulate a hope of forgiveness and restoration for Israel following judgment and alienation from YHWH. It seems to me that any attempt to understand his death in universal terms must first respect the historical contingency of the Gospel accounts. This is not to say that the cross has no universal significance, rather that whatever universal significance it has comes by way of its significance for first century Israel.

continue reading "The death of Jesus in the Gospels"

I am holding a couple of Bible studies on the meaning of Jesus’ death tonight and next Monday here in the Hague. The following brief notes outline what I think are the main interpretive perspectives on his death in the Gospels. Next week I will look at Paul. To my mind, the main points to be grasped from these perspectives are i) that we need to make sense of Jesus’ death primarily within a (multilayered) narrative rather than systematic theological framework; and ii) that at least in the Gospels his death is understood as being not for humanity but for Israel. In essence, his death is interpreted by means of various extended stories drawn from the Old Testament that articulate a hope of forgiveness and restoration for Israel following judgment and alienation from YHWH. It seems to me that any attempt to understand his death in universal terms must first respect the historical contingency of the Gospel accounts. This is not to say that the cross has no universal significance, rather that whatever universal significance it has comes by way of its significance for first century Israel.

continue reading "The death of Jesus in the Gospels"

Whether Atheist or Theist, superstitious or empericist, human beings seek at-onement, that is, Salvation. Deny it we may, claim to have it safely locked away in organizational membership we might, but pursue it we must. Yet many are those imprisoned by its impostors, few are those who recognize it, and even fewer those who find their way to it. It is the human condition.

continue reading "At-One-ment"