{"id":9501,"date":"2016-07-22T06:05:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T10:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/?p=9501"},"modified":"2016-07-15T22:54:29","modified_gmt":"2016-07-16T02:54:29","slug":"fleming-rutledge-on-substitutionary-atonement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2016\/07\/fleming-rutledge-on-substitutionary-atonement\/","title":{"rendered":"Fleming Rutledge on Substitutionary Atonement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Fleming Rutledge, in her book\u00a0The Crucifixion<\/a><\/em>, makes one of the most robust and concerted defenses\/explanations of substitutionary atonement in recent years (even \u201cpenal\u201d substitution in a\u00a0sense, though heavily qualified). All the more\u00a0interesting because she is a mainline Episcopalian and outside the usual evangelical networks who like to espouse such things. She begins by noting: \u201cIt is not an exaggeration to say that in some circles there has been something resembling a campaign of intimidation, so that those who cherish the idea that Jesus offered himself\u00a0in our place<\/em> have been made to feel that they are neo-Crusaders, prone to violence, oppressors of women, and enablers of child abuse\u201d (p. 464).<\/p>\n

Rutledge presents a survey of biblical texts and historical theology to show the antiquity and ubiquity of substitutionary atonement. She notes all the major objections and seeks to sympathetically assuage them. In the end, she prefers a\u00a0largely Barthian view of substitutionary atonement, interspersed with themes from the Apocalyptic Paul (i.e. Lou Martyn) and sacrificial motif drawn from the homilies of Anglican divines (i.e. Lancelot Andrews). It is a fair and I think mostly successful integration of substitutionary atonement with the Christus Victor theme \u2013 something I espouse similarly in my\u00a0Evangelical Theology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

She concludes:<\/p>\n

The theme of substitution allows full scope for us to understand the depth and completeness of Christ\u2019s involvement in the human condition. From this perspective, it is truly hard to understand why there is so much resistance to it. How does it make the self-sacrifice of Christ more palatable to say that he gave himself only\u00a0for our benefit<\/em>, rather than\u00a0in our place<\/em>? Even if it is construed exclusively as a victory over the Powers \u2013 as in the\u00a0Christus Victor<\/em> motif \u2013 does that explain why the Son of God had to undergo\u00a0crucifixion<\/em> to defeat Sin, Death, and the devil? Does it nor require some suspension of disbelief in any case? Why should we resist the most obvious sense of the words \u201cfor us\u201d and \u201cfor me\u201d in the case of Jesus on the cross? Since he clearly did not deserve what happened to him, why is it not right to conclude that we should have been there instead of him? Is that not the most basic sort of human reaction? We have all heard people saying, \u201cIt should have been me instead of him.\u201d Why should we want ruthlessly to eliminate such thoughts concerning Christ on the cross? The plain sense of the New Testament taken as a whole gives the strong impression that Jesus gave himself up to shame, spitting, scouring, and a degrading public death beyond the eyes of the whole world, not only\u00a0for our sake<\/em> but also\u00a0in our place<\/em>. (p. 529).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope\u00a0Fleming Rutledge\u2019s book\u00a0The Crucifixion\u00a0<\/em>does for mainline churches what John Stott\u2019s book\u00a0The Cross of Christ<\/em> did for evangelical churches \u2013 renew their focus and appreciation of the cross, and lead to forthright preaching of the cross!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fleming Rutledge, in her book\u00a0The Crucifixion, makes one of the most robust and concerted defenses\/explanations of substitutionary atonement in recent years (even \u201cpenal\u201d substitution in a\u00a0sense, though heavily qualified). All the more\u00a0interesting because she is a mainline Episcopalian and outside the usual evangelical networks who like to espouse such things. She begins by noting: \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFleming Rutledge on Substitutionary Atonement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fleming Rutledge, in her book\u00a0The Crucifixion, makes one of the most robust and concerted defenses\/explanations of substitutionary atonement in recent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2016\/07\/fleming-rutledge-on-substitutionary-atonement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fleming Rutledge on Substitutionary Atonement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fleming Rutledge, in her book\u00a0The Crucifixion, makes one of the most robust and concerted defenses\/explanations of substitutionary atonement in recent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2016\/07\/fleming-rutledge-on-substitutionary-atonement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euangelion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michael.bird.33\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-22T10:05:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-16T02:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/515pkTRb55L._AC_US160_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael F. 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