Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition

by Hans Boersma

Overview

The cross is central to understanding Christian theology. But is it possible that our postmodern setting requires a new model of understanding the cross?

Hans Boersma's Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross proposes an understanding of the atonement that is sensitive both to the Christian tradition and to the postmodern critiques of that tradition. His fresh approach draws on the rich resources of the Christian tradition in its portrayal of God's hospitality in Jesus Christ.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801031335
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2006
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Hans Boersma (PhD, University of Utrecht) holds the J. I. Packer Chair of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author or editor of several books, including A Hot Pepper Corn: Richard Baxter's Doctrine of Justification in Its Seventeenth-Century Context of Controversy.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: The Divine Face of Hospitality
1. The Possibility of Hospitality
2. Limited Hospitality: Election and Violence in Eternity
3. Preferential Hospitality: Election and Violence in History

Part 2: The Cruciform Face of Hospitality
4. Atonement, Metaphors, and Models
5. Modeling Hospitality: Atonement as Moral Influence
6. Atonement and Mimetic Violence
7. Hospitality, Punishment, and the Atonement
8. Atonement, Violence, and Victory

Part 3: The Public Face of Hospitality
9. The Church as the Community
of Hospitality
10. Public Justice and the Hospitality
of Liberation

Epilogue
Indexes

Editorial Reviews

Boersma (religious & worldview studies, Trinity Western Univ., British Columbia) here offers a scholarly review and analysis of differing historical and contemporary understandings of God's work of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, particularly with regard to hospitality and violence. He examines and compares three main atonement models: moral influence, penal representation, and Christ as victor. Boersma sees Christ not just as priest and king but also as prophet and teacher and argues that moral influence is an indispensable anchor for the hospitability of God. He asks evangelicals to recover the Catholic emphasis on moral integrity and the visible Church, viewing Christ's death on the cross as "the divine punishment of exile." Further, he sees the Resurrection as God's pure hospitability as illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son. Though well structured and readable, this book is scholarly in tone and would be of interest only to graduate studies faculty, particularly those wrestling with the atonement in its historical and contemporary understanding. Recommended for scholarly theological collections.-George Westerlund, formerly with Providence P.L., Palmyra, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal