When it comes to social media, there is power in the blood. “Questioning penal substitutionary atonement really brings out the 30-year-old white dudes in my feed,” contemporary Christian musician Michael Gungor commented during a Twitter storm he started Feb. 25…
Healthy disbelief
By Molly T. Marshall A rather heated exchange about the atonement theory of a hymn has ensued. Baptists and Presbyterians have weighed in on what the cross of Christ “satisfied,” the nature of divine wrath, and whether singing an objectionable…
Like its name, ‘Calvary’ offers view of atonement
By Michael Parnell Calvary begins in a confessional in Ireland. Father James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson) listens to a man describe how he was raped as child by a priest. The man then tells Father James that he will kill him…
Rethinking the atonement
By Chuck Queen Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was the first to expound the theory that Jesus’ death was necessary for the satisfaction of God’s honor. This evolved into the theory of penal substitutionary atonement, perhaps most elaborately developed by Princeton…
Healthy disbelief
By Molly T. Marshall A rather heated exchange about the atonement theory of a hymn has ensued. Baptists and Presbyterians have weighed in on what the cross of Christ “satisfied,” the nature of divine wrath, and whether singing an objectionable…
Editorial ignites atonement debate
By Bob Allen A Presbyterian controversy spilled into Baptist life when Southern Baptist leaders criticized a Baptist state newspaper editor for agreeing with a hymnal committee that omitted a popular hymn because of the phrase “the wrath of God was…
State paper editorial ignites atonement debate
By Bob Allen A Presbyterian controversy spilled into Baptist life when Southern Baptist leaders criticized a Baptist state newspaper editor for agreeing with a hymnal committee that omitted a popular hymn because of the phrase “the wrath of God was…
Violence and the cross
Challenging the notion that some violent responses to violence are justified often seems to cause people to respond with greater vehemence than if their most deeply-cherished convictions about the nature of God had been questioned. I suspect there are two…