Atonement: Justice is at fault, not God

The atonement was a necessary part of God's plan to fulfill the demands of justice. When we fail to comply with one of the commandments it would be just to receive a punishment for the transgression. But we also expect God to be merciful and forgive our sins. God is said to be perfect(Matt 5:48) and as such we should expect him to be perfectly just and perfectly merciful. To remain as such poses a problem when we add consequences into the equation.

Monkey Cooperation and Fairness: Fundamental Principles in Law

Non-humans reason well enough to recognize the logical relationships necessary for negotiation to facilitate cooperation and they recognize when they are not getting treated the same as a peer. These are fundamental concepts to morality and law evident in non-humans. The following video is of two experiments demonstrating this fact.

Jesus and the Law

The concept of law is found throughout the Gospels and the New Testament and is an important element of atonement theology. This post explores the way Jesus understood and treated Old Testament law to provide a perspective for New Testament understanding of the law.

Sin and Community

Understanding the concept of sin has important implications for the idea of the atonement. This post seeks to explore ideas related to sin as seen in the Gospel traditions and Judaism, trying to highlight the role of community in Jesus' understanding of Jewish law.

Concept Map of The Atonement

It is constantly under revision with the introduction of new information.

Here is a preview embedded in the post. Use the icons at the bottom right of the map to adjust the view to fit or use the far right icon to open full size in its own page. When it opens full size, use the icons to adjust it for viewing. In the preview window, you can click the diagram and drag from right to left and vice versa.

Atonement Definition

Noun

• S: (n) atonement, expiation, satisfaction (compensation for a wrong) "we were unable to get satisfaction from the local store"
• S: (n) expiation, atonement, propitiation (the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity))

WordNet.Princeton.Edu home page

Pluralism

Pluralism is the view that all religions are either equally true, or more often, equally influenced by human development but all containing a core of divine revelation.

On this view, no one religion is more privileged than another or can lay a stronger claim to revelation or to the truth of its doctrines. Differences in religion may be due to historical and cultural influences that will inevitably differ from place to place through history, or to different divine revelations given to different people out of sensitivity to their different social/cultural contexts.

From a Christian perspective, a pluralist would be one who chooses to self-identify with one particular faith (Christianity) for whatever personal/cultural/aesthetical, etc. reasons, but does not believe that Christianity is "more true" or above other world religions and affirms the role of God in all religions.

A few pluralists from the Christian tradition include:

G.E. Lessing
John Hick

See also:
The Wikipedia entry on "Religious Pluralism"

Inclusivism

Inclusivism represents one approach towards the status of other religions and their followers.

From a Christian perspective, broadly speaking, inclusivism holds that different religions may possess different degrees of revelation and that each person is responsible for what they did with whatever amount of revelation was available to them. On this view, the atonement of Christ covers all people, and can save those who are seeking God, even in the context of another religion.

It differs from pluralism in the sense that the saving work of Jesus Christ is seen as necessary for all people, making Christianity in some sense a more privileged revelation than other religions (or non-religious perspectives).

A few prominent Christians who have identified with this position or expressed ideas consistent with inclusivism (this is by no means exhaustive of all who hold to this position):

Justin Martyr
C.S. Lewis
Clark Pinnock
Dallas Willard (he calls his position "Christian pluralism" but it is actually an inclusivist and not pluralist perspective)

Also, inclusivist ideas are officially endorsed by some Christian traditions, most prominent being the Roman Catholic Church.

See also:
Wikipedia entry on inclusivism (section on Christianity)
"Salvation Outside the Church - But Why then Evangelize? : Reflections from a Roman Catholic Perspective"

Exclusivism

Exclusivism from a Christian perspective is the view that a person must know of Jesus Christ and consciously decide to believe and follow him in order to achieve salvation.

This view can be teased out in a variety of ways, such as claiming that a person must be baptized into a particular tradition or church in order to be saved, or make a conscious decision to "invite Jesus into your heart" or make Jesus one's "Lord and savior." This view usually entails a belief in "one true faith" or "one true church."

On this view, a person who has rejected the Christian message or has never had the opportunity to hear it has no hope of achieving salvation.

Many Christians in the Reformed tradition hold to an exclusivist position in virtue of a belief in predestination, which can be found articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646).

See also:
The Wikipedia entry on "Religious Exclusivism" (section on Christianity)
An article on "Christian Exclusivism"

Atonement Project Document Index

"Unpacking" The Atonement Project, Temporarily off-site

ACTIVE, RECENTLY MODIFIED DOCUMENTS

• Draft: Map of the logical structure of The Atonement
• Draft: "Unpacking" the Atonement Collaboration. (Initial Project Overview Documentation)
  
• Draft: Back From The Crucifixion, Rev. hq20100114
  

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS, links need updating

• Draft: Atonement Project Schema
• Draft: Atonement Project Questionaire to Define Terms
  
• Draft: HQ's Detailed Logical Analysis of the concept of Sin