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FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
GRACE FOR AN ANGRY WORLD I’m back. Having spent much of the past couple of months traveling—more on that in subsequent posts—I’ve had the chance to return to the topic I’ve been considering off and on for some time: atonement. The subtext of this discussion is the way that theology often claims to be about…
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HARSH JUSTICE: PAUL AND PARTICIPATION IN CHRIST
A Gospel for Today If the Christian gospel it to mean anything at all, it must offer realistic hope and direction for the time in which we live. Often the gospel is thought to be outside of time, describing what happened long ago and what will happen in the future—or in eternity—but having little to…
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HARSH JUSTICE: THE GOSPELS, THE MACCABEAN MARTYRS, AND PENAL SUBSTUTIONARY ATONEMENT
The PSA Story At the heart of evangelical Christianity is a story. The story goes like this. Humans collectively (in Adam) and individually (on our own dime) have fallen–sinned. The sins of the human race offend God or, more precisely, offend God’s justice. And if God is to be God, then God must punish these sins. Punishment…
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Harsh Justice, Introduction
BAD THEOLOGY 8: PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT Moving to a Conclusion Some time ago, I promised as a conclusion to my Bad Theology series to address what is perhaps a core doctrine in the evangelical theology toolkit: penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). PSA is the view that Jesus suffered and died to satisfy the wrath of God…