So far in this series on different ways Christians have understood the saving work of Jesus, we’ve looked at one of what we might call a historical filter (Recapitulation) and two metaphors (the Passover and the Bridegroom). But none of these ever reached the complexity of what we might properly call an ‘atonement theory’. Today … Continue reading Christ our Champion: Christus Victor
I've been busy working away at my series 'Atonement through the Ages,' so I fully admit that All Saints Day snuck up on me this year. So instead of having a new post, I'll direct to some previous posts I've written that relate to the feast and its significations: The Communion of Saints as a … Continue reading Some Resources for All Saints Day
Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to go on vacation in Italy, and specifically to Rome and Florence. Rome is known as ‘the Eternal City’; it’s been one of the most important cities in the Western World, if not the whole world, for about 2,500 years, and both the wonderful monuments and the … Continue reading From Age to Age: A Reflection on Psalm 90
For the most part this series on different ways Christians have understood the atonement, i.e., Christ’s saving work, will be focusing on the heaviest hitters, those images that have been the most influential or important in history. Today I’d like to do something a bit different, and think through a perspective that has never been … Continue reading Christ our Bridegroom
Last week, we started this series on the history of how Christians have understood the atonement — that is, what Jesus did that saved us — by looking at the notion of recapitulation, the idea that Jesus saved us by essentially rebooting humanity and being entirely faithful where both Adam and God’s chosen people both … Continue reading Christ our Passover
Matthew Root 