Geoffrey Holsclaw
This time of year, many progress-liberal minded Christians criticize the idea that God “turned away from” or “abandoned” Jesus on the cross. And most conservative minded Christians take the idea for granted, because God can’t look at sin. Did God abandon Jesus on the cross?Did the Father forsake the Son in death? Did God turn […]
Truth is, we all want blood, even if just to be entertained. Some want physical blood still. Others are content with social media outrage. But we are like those who demanded the blood of Jesus on Good Friday. As the religious (right & left) and the activists (right & left), we would rather get on […]
In the last post I asked, “What is Penal Substitutionary Atonement?” I summarized Thomas Schreiner’s position in The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views as fairly as possible. Now I’m going to offer my own review of the biblical materials. Just How Biblical Is Penal Substitution? Advocates like Schreiner say their view is the most […]
“The theory of penal substitution is the heart and soul of an evangelical view of the atonement.” So says Thomas Schreiner in The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views (67). And historically, Schreiner is right. This is how I was raised as an evangelical fundamentalist in California, and many others all across the USA. […]
Today I’m wondering why so often there is such a big gap between what everyday Christians think about the “atonement” (the reason why Jesus died for ours sins) and what theologians and preachers mean by it, especially those who are part of “penal substitutionary atonement” churches and traditions. This gap is seen in the answers […]
Focusing on blood is tough for us modern people—especially sacrificial blood. We don’t really have any category for that. And yet, if we are to celebrate our redemption in Christ as we did in the previous post on the Evangelical Preaching of the Cross: Redemption, then we must affirm that—in some way— our redemption is […]