A Community Called Atonement: Living Theology
"McKnight isn't advocating a mushy `let's all get along' evasion of the issues, which are many and important. But he is seeking to practice what we preach whenever we preach atonement: that God calls us to reconcile with God, ourselves, one another, and all creation. That means that the way we treat one another when we disagree about atonement can't be separated from what we preach when we preach atonement. Theory and praxis are profoundly inseparable. At this critical time in history, I believe we need, not atonement wars (or other kinds of theo-combat), but rather mature and generative conversation on atonement, so we can together go back to the Scriptures and in their light savor the rich meaning of Christ's saving work. A Community Called Atonement joins books by Willard, Boersma, Green, Baker, and others as an excellent and accessible resource for this conversation, informed by both current and historical scholarship." ------Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) is an author, speaker, and former pastor active in the emergent conversation. His next book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, will be released October 2."Atonement theology, McKnight rightly insists, cannot operate with only one theory; it needs all of the biblical metaphors and each of the traditional atonement models. They all come together, he points out, in the patristic model of recapitulation--or, as he calls it, identification for incorporation. More than just being gutsy, orthodox, creative, as well as scholarly in character, this book actually atones; it models what it sets out to demonstrate, namely, that the church is summoned to work with God in his atoning work." --Hans Boersma, J. I. Packer Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Regent College"Few ideas are more central to Christian faith than the doctrine of atonement. And yet for too many atonement is merely that: a doctrine. In A Community Called Atonement, Scot McKnight takes the reader on a compelling, thorough, and creative exploration of the work of Christ and breathes into this doctrine a biblically robust understanding of God's intent for creation in Christ." --Tim Keel, pastor of Jacob's Well Church and author of Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor, and Chaos"It takes a village--or rather, an evangelical catholic community--to communicate everything McKnight wants to say about atonement. Sure both to stimulate imaginations and to raise hackles as it remixes biblical metaphors, integrates doctrine and praxis, and deconstructs one-sided theories of the saving significance of the cross, A Community Called Atonement may well turn out to be a theological manifesto called 'emergent.'" --Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School