Mar/Apr 2004 Current Issues Features Religion & Theology Features

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This article is the third in an ongoing series on the atonement, following Richard Mouw's "Violence and the Atonement" [January/February 2001] and Hans Boersma's "The Disappearance of Punishment" [March/April 2003]. Perhaps no doctrine has been more central to evangelical theology, yet today among evangelicals, as among Christians more generally, one often hears it said that the classical understanding of the atonement is deeply flawed, that we must "rethink the atonement." Is that really so? The essays in this series consider such questions.

Most movies wait till after they're released to stir up controversy, but Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has been preceded by nearly a year of fisticuffs. It provided an unusually rich opportunity for people who don't know what they're talking about to do just that. I'll continue that tradition by admitting that, as I write this, I still have not seen the film. I expect it will be good moviemaking, a powerful example of the artistic possibilities of film. I hope it will stir up old faith in Christians and break forth new faith in unbelievers.

But as I read interviews with Gibson before the release, one theme caught my attention. Listen to this quote, for example. In the September 15, 2003 New Yorker, Gibson told Peter J. Boyer, "I wanted to bring you there. I wanted to be true to the Gospels. That has never been done before."

That goal meant showing us what real scourging and crucifixion would look like. "I didn't want to see Jesus looking really pretty," Gibson went on. "I wanted to mess up one of his eyes, destroy it."

Now, if you're like me, you registered a double-take. Surely, the Crucifixion and its preceding torture were brutal events. But there's nothing in the Gospels specifically ...