Re: The story of Jesus and the place of the cross

Thanks for your thoughtful response, Peter. I’ll try to keep my boiling to a nonviolent level!

I’m happy to see my position described as similar to Aulen’s CV. However, I would also want to incorporate elements of Girard. I would also tend to ‘politicise’ aspects that Aulen might ‘spiritualise’.

I’m not sure that it would be accurate to speak of [i]Christus Victor[/i] as depending upon a superficial understanding of penal substitution. Popular understandings are rarely as nuanced as academic ones, particularly those of recent years. In fact, I would say that since Forsyth and Barth, what academics refer to as PS nowadays has seen some fairly significant developments.

Your own position would seem to include elements that I think place it on the fringe of PS, at least. To speak of the cross as the self-denying act of God is certainly a more helpful idea than the retributive monster you speak of. However, do we not then move beyond PS into a more Girardian position.

I also wonder what it is that God submits to in this self-denying. Is it an impersonal ‘wrath’ or ‘law’? Or is it an out of control cycle of violence?

Thanks again for your comment. It looks like it’s time for me to go back and read my own article. That’s the danger of putting your thoughts down on paper, isn’t it? Four years later they can seem as embarrassing as looking at family photos from the 80s!