Dale Ann Gray Dr. T. Jennings 20th C. Theology
Atonement among Five 20th Century Theologians
May 30, 2007 CTS TEC 605
Atonement among Five 20th Century Theologians Introduction Atonement theories have been traditionally categorized in one of three types: Christus Victor/Classical (also with its Ransom Theory variant), Anselmian-Substitution-SatisfactionLatin Theory, or the Abelardian/Moral Influence Theory.1 A brief theological survey of Walter Rauschenbusch, Dorothee Sölle, Sallie McFague, Delores Williams and Chung Hyun Kyung reveals that while these theologians may or may not deal explicitly with traditional atonement categories, their work does fall into the category I name as “The Moral Influence of Jesus’ Life.” An understanding of atonement which is not limited to “the theological significance of the death of Jesus”2 is required. For the purposes of this paper, atonement will be considered both in traditional terms and in consonance with and enlarged from Delores Williams’ explication of “at-one-ment”: God coming to be one with both the individual and humanity.3 I enlarge at-one-ment to include not only the God-individual-humanity connection, but also humanity with humanity, humanity with creation, and God with creation, in short, shalom for all. The nature of at-one-ment is continual. As creatio continuo is to creation, and as Eucharist is to Baptism, being repeated occurrences versus solitary events, it is also thus for at-one-ment and salvation. It may have both eschatological and here-and-now characteristics. At-one-ment opens up to a broad understanding of God working to bring about shalom for all creation. Because four of the five theologians considered here can be classified as some type of feminist (Euro-feminist, eco-feminist, womanist, Korean feminist), and each has her own ap1
This brief paper does not offer the space to explicate each of the three theories. I will assume that the reader is already acquainted with them. For a very succinct explication see: Aulén, Gustaf. Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2003. 2 Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1945), 240. 3 This was explained to me by Linda Thomas of LSTC, and although I have begun to search for the Williams’ source, I have not yet found it.
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