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Recapturing the image of the cross for today

V. George Shillington

Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament & Contemporary Contexts Joel B. Green and Mark D. Baker. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000

This book by Joel Green of Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky., and Mark Baker of Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Calif., is urgently needed in our world. More and more voices raise concern about the traditional models of atonement in Christian understanding.

The authors cite several models of atonement from early and middle Christian history that have influenced our way of construing the meaning of the cross in Christian theology: Christ as conqueror over Satan, sin and death (Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa); Christ’s death as sacrifice that satisfies a debt sinful humanity owed to God (Anselm); and Christ’s life and death move sinners to repent and be saved (Abelard).

Out of the various nuances on the significance of the bloody death of Jesus on the cross comes one dominant theme, propounded especially by the influential theologian Charles Hodge (1797-1878): Christ’s death as “penal substitution”. This doctrine, still prevalent in much of contemporary preaching and teaching, reckons Christ’s death as God’s punishment that humankind deserves. For sinful human beings to have access to the sinless God, God had to send His Son to be crucified to pay the penalty. The problem noted by Green and Baker is that this pervasive model of atonement has been read back into the New Testament in ways painfully inappropriate to the texture of the relevant texts. In exploring the New Testament texts about the death of Jesus the authors find numerous images and metaphors that describe the saving significance of Jesus’ death. They urge us to recapture the variegated imagery in the atonement texts, and re-contextualize them into thought and language of our present cultures.

Above all, this book urges us to eliminate any model of atonement that makes God a tyrant who kills His Son to satisfy the need to save the human family. Feminist theologians have rightly called the traditional penal substitution doctrine into question: it endorses violence. This book echoes their call. Faith communities in various cultures of the world need to capture for themselves the significance of Jesus’ death.

Are these scholars suggesting the removal of the cross from Christian thinking? Not at all. “To extract the cross from Christianity as if it were an appendix leaves us with a body that is no longer Christianity and leaves ‘crossless’ Christians without the capacity to address evil fully” (p. 173). The scandal of the cross, of which Paul speaks (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5), is up for recovery.

This book, clearly written and well documented, deserves a place in every church library. Preachers and parishioners alike will find here a word on target for our times.

V. George Shillington is professor of New Testament at Canadian Mennonite University.

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Last modified January 31, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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