Love, Violence, and the Cross

by Love, Gregory Anderson

• ISBN13: 9781608990429
• ISBN10: 1608990427
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-01
• Publisher: Cascade Books

Summary

Does God use violence to redeem us? What is the relationship between divine love and violence in regard To The saving significance of the cross of Christ? in Love, Violence, And The Cross, Gregory Love dialogues with two responses to this question, while presenting a third alternative in which Jesus's death is simultaneously a crime and an element of God's saving actions. Through familiar stories in history, literature, and film, Love presents five constructive models that cumulatively affirm God's saving act in the person and work of Christ while letting go the myth of redemptive violence. They affirm redemption, but one with a different shape: Instead of exacting the absolute punishment, God redeems by "making good" God's promise to humanity to secure human life. Love argues that God is nonviolent, while retaining the core idea presented in the New Testament witnesses: that reconciliation occurs in the work of Christ, and that the cross plays a role in that divine work.

Author Biography

Gregory Anderson Love is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary and The Graduate Theological Union; he is an ordained Presbyterian pastor.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Penal Substitution: The Atonement Theory Most Prevalent in North American Popular Christian Piety
Jesus the Reconciler of Divine Justice and Mercy (Penal Substitution)	p. 3
Beyond Penal Substitution: Problems and Alternatives to the Atonement of Popular Christian Piety
The Abusive God	p. 27
God, the Lavish Lover of All Life	p. 52
Jesus, the Strong Mother and Friend (Generative)	p. 59
Jesus, the Light and Guide (Enlightenment)	p. 87
Traditions and Alternatives: A Salvific Death Effected by a Nonviolent God
Jesus the Savior	p. 113
Jesus, the Power of Life Over Death (Emancipation)	p. 135
Jesus, the Hospitable One (Hospitality)	p. 164
Jesus, the Just One (Divine Justice)	p. 194
Jesus, the Power of Reorienting Grace (Reorientation)	p. 211
Jesus, the Securer of Meaning (Restoration)	p. 238
Postlude: The Center Holds	p. 254
Bibliography	p. 257
Scripture Index
Author Index
Subject Index
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