Discipleship
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 50, No. 2 - Spring 2008
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Edited by Mark D. Baker. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. 204 pages. Softcover, $18.00.
Any reader who holds a view that Jesus died on the cross to bear God’s righteous wrath against our sin will discover before he finishes the first chapter that the essays in Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross were not compiled for him. Rather, the editor is clear throughout the book that his goal is to explore every image of the atonement except penal substitution. He describes his viewpoint as “Looking for Alternatives to Penal Satisfaction” (27, 192 n. 17) and explains that “people with a penal-satisfaction- only view of the atonement are not the intended audience of this book” (29).
The editor, Mark D. Baker, serves as associate professor of mission and theology at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. This book follows Recovering the Scandal of the Cross, which argued for a multiplicity of atonement images other than penal substitution. The present work is a collection of eighteen essays which originally took the form of sermons, youth Sunday School lessons, chapel addresses, articles, and even a portion of a novel. All of the essays are included with the aim of explaining the death of Christ in terms other than penal substitution. Rather than summarize every essay, one will serve as an example. The first essay is a scene from C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and is intended to demonstrate that Aslan’s self-sacrifice to the White Witch on behalf of Edmund could be considered as both the conquering of evil powers and as substitution, but not penal substitution.
Baker’s book should be commended for at least three reasons. First, these essays cause the reader to clarify one’s view of the atonement. Everyone who preaches or teaches about the cross implicitly or explicitly answers the following question: Was Christ’s death on the cross intended to satisfy God’s wrath (objective view) or to inspire us toward self-sacrifice and for- giveness (subjective view)? Although Southern Baptists will disagree with Baker’s theological conclusion, the variety and number of essays provided enables readers to identify and understand the subjective view. Second, this work should be commended for its effort to contextualize the message of the gospel. This scandalous message is not intended to remain only in our mind or on our bookshelf, but explained, illustrated, and applied in words and images that are understandable to our contemporary audience. Third, the format of the book provides a platform for many voices to be heard on this subject, from recognized names (such as Richard Hays and Rowan Williams) to other names that are not as well known. The format of the book also allows for brief commentary from the editor about how each es- say contributes to the book’s theme.
Two of the challenges that the book faces are found in its style and theology. First, the use of biased language is a literary device that weakens this work. Although the aim of the book is to reject one view of atonement in favor of many others, it is a misstep to characterize penal substitution in the following ways: “the formulaic transactional understanding promoted by evangelical pop-atonement theology” (117); God is “the offended potentate who needs somewhere to vent his rage” (119); and “a God who kills somebody out of loyalty to an abstract principle doesn’t feel truly loving” (129). Even the viewpoints of those with whom we disagree should be fairly presented. Second, this book faces certain theological challenges. Due to its commitment to the subjective view of the atonement, it argues for forgiveness without penalty or payment (61, 83). Sin is alienation from self (132) rather than enmity with God. The cross was “sacred violence”(48) and it was a Girardian expression of God’s undermining of the sacrificial system by submitting to it as a victim (71). Jesus is the scapegoat (68, 142) and expiation (167) but not the sacrificial goat or propitiation in Day of Atonement imagery. Some of the contributions can be read as providing atonement images in additionto penal substitution (such as C.S. Lewis, Richard Hays, and Curtis Chang). But the aim of the editor and most of its contributors is to provide the images as alternatives. Although there is merit in many of these other atonement images, they are all inadequate when separated from the idea that Christ became sin for us and died our death at the cross.
