Transformed Lives: Making Sense of Atonement Today

by Cynthia S. W. Crysdale

Overview

· For people whose eyes glaze over when questions of salvation/redemption/atonement come up

· Written by a theologian, but with a lay audience in mind

Even theologians have had different ideas about the theology of atonement; how are the rest of supposed to understand it? This book is a good place to start. Crysdale, whose background in both psychology and theology gives her a unique perspective, presents an overview of the history of the theology of atonement, addressing clearly the difficulties around this concept, and bringing us with her to a contemporary understanding.

“Please join me in welcoming an informative, thoughtful, creative, and persuasive book on the atonement. St. Paul and even Anselm’s contributions to this multi-faceted doctrine are rendered accessible here. I only wish Crysdale’s volume had been available during my fifty years of teaching Anglican theology. Please don’t miss reading her contemporary, scholarly perspectives. She has much to teach us.”—Fredrica Harris Thompsett, author of We Are Theologians

“No ‘doctrine’ has more distorted the living of lives called Christian than substitutionary satisfaction theories of the atonement. So thank God we now have Crysdale’s constructive account of the atonement that helps us see that we do not need a theory of the atonement because what God has done in the crucifixion is not a violent exchange but rather God’s way of befriending his people. I hope that this well researched book will be widely read.”—Stanley Hauerwas, author of Without Apology

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596272682
Publisher:	Church Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/10/2016
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Cynthia Crysdale is Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology at the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee. She has a BA in psychology from York Universityin Toronto, Canada, and an MA and PhD from St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. She taught for 18 years at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC, before moving to Sewanee, and is the author of several books and articles exploring the topic of atonement.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Problems with the Atonement 1

1 Falling in Love: Healing and Reconciliation Enfolded in God's Embrace 9

2 Retrieving the Biblical Tradition: Paul and Jesus 33

3 From Metaphor to Theory: Further Attempts to Make Sense of What God Has Done in Christ 65

4 From Theory to Modernity: Meaning-Making Today 91

5 What Does All of This Mean for Theology? 117

6 Transformed Lives Reconsidered 139

Bibliography 169

Index 177