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Recovering the Scandal of the Cross
Ebook
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- Length: 287 pages
- Published: September 02, 2011
- Imprint: IVP Academic
- ISBN: 9780830869091
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Available at all major retailers!
The cross is the defining symbol of the Christian faith. Yet the Roman cross was first and foremost an instrument of cruel, shameful and violent execution. Early Christians quickly recognized the atoning significance of the cross of Christ, and itresonated deeply with their experience of salvation. But the cross remained a blessing framed by scandal, an epochal and yet mysterious event irreducible to a single formulation.As Joel Green and Mark Baker demonstrate, the New Testament displays arich array of interpretations of the cross. These were shaped by the church in mission as it rooted the saving story of a scandalous cross in the language of everyday realities and relationships. But for many Christians today, not only has the true scandal of the cross been obscured, the variety of its New Testament interpretations have been reduced to subpoints in a single, controlling view of the atonement. Tragically, the way in which the atonement is frequently and popularly expressed now poses a new scandal, one that is foreign to the New Testament and poses needless obstacles to twenty-first century peoples and cultures.At the heart of this book is a challenge for us to view afresh the variety of contextual understandings of the deathof Christ in the New Testament and to reconsider how we can faithfully communicate with fresh models the atoning significance of the cross for specific contexts today. The authors explore how the atonement has been understood within a variety of contemporary contexts--both Western and non-Western--and show how we can enter into the thoroughly Christian mission of restating the saving scandal of the cross in our multicultural world of the twenty-first century.
"Joel Green and Mark Baker offer a richly-textured interpretation which does justice both to the variety of models of atonement in the Bible and to the varieties of postmodern culture. This is thought-provoking theology for a mission context."
Stephen Travis, formerly Vice-Principal of St. John's College, Nottingham UK
"In the second edition of Recovering the Scandal of the Cross, Baker and Green continue the important conversation about the doctrine of the atonement by responding to new proposals and to critics of the book's first edition. . . . Most helpful is their insightful treatment of non-Western views of the cross which pushes forward evangelical attempts at cultural contextualization without sheer accommodation. Everyone interested in cutting-edge theological thinking about the atonement must read this second edition."
Roger E. Olson, professor of theology, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
"By focusing on the importance of narrative context, language and metaphor, this book recaptures some of the mystery and complexity of New Testament views of atonement. Besides engaging recent debates on the salvific meaning of the crucifixion, this revised edition surveys New Testament, historical, and contemporary models of the atonement, revealing unintended side effects of a contemporary model of penal satisfaction. Scholars and pastors will gain from the insights of this clear and well-researched study--one that shows the necessity of doing theology that relates to the mission of the church in every context and generation."
Frances S. Adeney, William A. Benfield Jr. Professor of Evangelism and Global Mission, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
1. The Church the Cross: A Case of Selective Memory
2. The Cross the New Testament: A Mélange of Voices (Part One)
3. The Cross the New Testament: A Mélange of Voices (Part Two)
4. The Saving Significance of Jesus' Death in the New Testament
5. Models of the Atonement: A History Assessment
6. Removing Alienating Shame: The Saving Significance of the Cross in Japan
7. Confounding Evil Through Cunning Compassion
8. Hearing Other Voices:Exploring the Ongoing Significance of Jesus' Death
9. Communicating the Atonement Today
Bibliography
Author Subject Index
Scripture Index
