Today’s reading from Hebrews offers one doctrine in explanation of why Jesus died on the cross.
In this reading we are given a theology of atonement—that God caused Jesus to die as payment for the sins of humanity-past, present and future.
I say ‘one explanation’ because there are a number of other explanations which are part of our tradition. There is a growing consensus that Jesus was killed because of his radical teaching which offended both Jewish religious leaders and Roman authorities.
His summary teaching ‘love God, love your neighbour’ put forth an alternate visions of God and humanity.
Set out below are some thoughts on atonement by Bishop John Spong.—This too presents an alternate vision but also calls humanity to task for atrocities committed in the name of and/or sanctioned by Christianity as various points in history.
“What human life needs is not a theology of human denigration. That is what atonement theology gives us. What we need is a theology of human fulfillment.”–John Shelby Spong
“Atonement theology is not the pathway to life. The ability to give ourselves away to others in love is. It is not the winners who achieve life’s meaning; it is the givers. That is the basis upon which a new Christianity can be built for a new world. Atonement theology was born in Gentile ignorance of Jewish worship traditions. It was fed over the centuries by literalizing biblical narratives in ways that Jewish worshippers, who knew about storytelling, would never have understood. I say it again: Biblical literalism is nothing less than a Gentile heresy. Its results are now revealed in the fact that Christianity has been transformed into a religion of victimization. For centuries we have practiced our faith by building up ourselves as winners, survivors, the holders of ultimate truth, while we have denigrated the humanity of others. That is the source of evil. That is why Christianity has given birth to anti-Semitism. That is why the crusades were initiated to kill “infidels.” That is why we gave our blessing to such things as the divine right of kings, slavery, segregation, and apartheid. That is why we defined women as sub-human, childlike, and dependent. That is why we became homophobic. That is why we became child abusers and ideological killers.
What human life needs is not a theology of human denigration. That is what atonement theology gives us. What we need is a theology of human fulfillment.”
–John Shelby Spong, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew’s Gospel
John Spong does not ‘mince words’, does he?