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Is It Really a Good Friday?
"Bush meets with NRB leaders, Rivers is still in the spotlight, and other stories from around the world"
Ted Olsen
April 1, 2001
The atonement is falling out of favor, reports The Dallas Morning News
"More and more, some [Christians] reject the usual Christian talk about Jesus' death," reports The Dallas Morning News. "They don't consider Jesus a ransom for sin. They shudder at hymns glorifying the 'power of the blood.' They cringe at calling the day Jesus died Good Friday. They say a God who requires human sacrifice sounds mean and vindictive. It doesn't mesh with their idea of a God who loves and forgives." In other words, an increasing number of Christians today—"young and old, conservative and liberal, and [across] denominational lines—reject atonement theology. The writer of the article, Susan Hogan-Albach, shows a masterful grasp of what she's talking about. She quotes Romans 3:25 and 1 Peter 2:24, and is very fair to those who both support and disagree with atonement theology. The views are presented with more equal weight than they would be in Christianity Today (or that they have been in Books & Culture's series on the atonement), but for a major city newspaper article, this should win an award. Here's the bottom line: "Placing so much emphasis on Jesus' death overshadows the message he proclaimed while he lived, say those troubled by atonement theology. It makes the crucifixion all about appeasing an angry God, they say. … But atonement theology didn't just drop from the sky. It's there, in the gospels and letters of the New Testament."
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