{"id":95680,"date":"2016-06-07T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=95680"},"modified":"2016-06-07T15:36:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:36:13","slug":"question-on-atonement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/question-on-atonement.html","title":{"rendered":"Question on Atonement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A reader writes:<\/p>\n

Hello! \u00a0I have a question (or topic suggestion) about the Catholic understanding of atonement that I would love to hear you and any one of your weekly Connecting the Dots<\/a><\/em> co-hosts discuss.<\/p>\n

My family is in the process of joining the Catholic church (as I\u2019ve discussed in previous correspondences with you). \u00a0Our Catholic journey began more than a year ago, but prior to that we received or purchased a number of Protestant Bible stories books for our daughter (who is four). \u00a0We have since switched over to Catholic children\u2019s books, but there is one of the others that my daughter still loves because the artwork is fantastic. \u00a0It\u2019s called the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones (who is a Presbyterian and member of Tim Keller\u2019s church).<\/p>\n

The Jesus Storybook Bible<\/em> is most great, but we found some text surrounding the crucifixion to be troublesome and we\u2019re not sure it meshes with Catholic teaching. \u00a0This, to me, smacks of penal substitutionary atonement, which, as I understand it, isn\u2019t what the Church teaches about what\u2019s happening on the cross. \u00a0Here are a few excerpts (note that we currently skip these when we read the book):<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew it was time to die. \u00a0They had planned it long\u00a0ago, he\u00a0and his Father. \u00a0Jesus was going to take the punishment for all the wrong things that anstead of his people.\u00a0 It was the only way God could destroy\u00a0sin, and\u00a0not destroy his children whose hearts were filled with sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

My daughter has asked us (surprisingly at age four) what\u2019s happening on the cross. \u00a0It\u2019s clear to me that Jesus is on that cross because of my sin, but it\u2019s not clear to me that God pours out his rage on Jesus. \u00a0As Catholics, should we explain it as above or is there a more Catholic explanation?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m much use here.\u00a0 From what little I understand, the Church is patient of various theories of the atonement and doesn\u2019t so much reject penal substitutionary atonement as reject the insistence of zealots who say that it is the One and Only Way to Think of the Atonement.\u00a0 The paradox of magisterial authority is that it is typically exercised to keep narrow-minded people from suffocating wide-ranging thought in the prison of a single idea.\u00a0 I would contact Jimmy Akin at Catholic Answers for a more detail look at this question.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what the Magisterium has to say about the theory of penal substitutionary atonement.\u00a0 I\u2019m highly skeptical that \u201cGod poured out his rage on Jesus\u201d is compatible with the faith, but some of the lines seem more compatible with \u201cGod made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to a the book itself, I would caution against expecting *too<\/strong>* much of a children\u2019s book. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

For myself, I find John Paul II\u2019s understanding\u2013that the sacrifice\u00a0satisfied God\u2019s love<\/em>, not his rage\u2013much easier to grasp.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader writes: Hello! \u00a0I have a question (or topic suggestion) about the Catholic understanding of atonement that I would love to hear you and any one of your weekly Connecting the Dots co-hosts discuss. My family is in the process of joining the Catholic church (as I\u2019ve discussed in previous correspondences with you). \u00a0Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-95680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestion on Atonement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reader writes: Hello! \u00a0I have a question (or topic suggestion) about the Catholic understanding of atonement that I would love to hear you and any one\" \/>\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\/markshea\/2016\/06\/question-on-atonement.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Question on Atonement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A reader writes: Hello! 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