Steve Hays of Triablogue wrote a response to my discussion of teaching biblical genocide to children called “Scout’s Honor!” It includes all the hallmarks of Hays’s critical analysis (or lack thereof) including the claim that I accept the UN as my “moral authority”. (How’s that supposed to work exactly?! “Hmm, has the UN addressed whether […]
atonement
Can we rationally believe in an atonement we don’t understand?
Having surveyed Ken Pulliam’s discussion of the PST, I have now been asked by Robert: “How do the other theories fare? I’m guessing they have problems too, since men like Luther and Calvin rejected them in favor of PST.” First off, Luther actually is associated with the Christus Victor model rather than PST, though Calvin […]
The End of Christianity? A Skeptical Review (Part 8)
In chapter 7 of The End of Christianity Ken Pulliam argues for “The Absurdity of the Atonement”. In fact, his essay is focused not on the atonement per se but rather on a penal substitutionary theory of atonement (henceforth PST). This is a crucial distinction to which I shall return. However, before continuing let me […]
Why isn’t a universal atonement a more successful atonement?
Gene: “Isn’t the purpose of the Cross to save the world? Does the percentage change the purpose?” While I am not myself a universalist I continue to be puzzled at some of the assumptions that non-universalist Christians have about the position. For example, in “Hell if universalism is true” I I provided one possible model […]
The Death of Jesus, the rape of a woman, and a concept called “Imputation”
On Good Friday two billion Christians around the world turn their eyes to that mysterious event two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ died “for our sins”. It is a time for somber, pietistic reflection. But it is also a time to ask the hard theological question: what does that mean? Perhaps the most common explanation, at […]
