Book regarding theories of atonement in Christianity
Christus Victor
is a book by
Gustaf Aulen
published in English in 1931, presenting a study of
theories of atonement
in
Christianity
. The original Swedish title is
Den kristna forsoningstanken
("The Christian Idea of the Atonement") published in 1930.
Aulen reinterpreted the classic
ransom theory of atonement
, which says that
Christ
's
death
is a
ransom
to the powers of
evil
, which had held humankind in their dominion.
[2]
It is a model of the atonement that is dated to the
Church Fathers
,
[3]
and it was the dominant theory of atonement for a thousand years, until
Anselm of Canterbury
supplanted it in the West with his
satisfaction theory of atonement
.
[3]
Aulen interpreted the ransom theory as a "victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil."
According to Pugh, "Ever since [Aulen's] time, we call these patristic ideas the
Christus Victor
way of seeing the cross."
It is sometimes known as the
fishhook theory
of atonement, since Church Fathers such as
Cyril of Alexandria
and
Gregory of Nyssa
envisioned Christ as bait on a fishhook, luring Satan to take the bait and destroy himself.
[6]
[7]
Aulen's book,
Christus Victor
[
edit
]
Atonement theories
[
edit
]
In his book, Aulen identifies three main types of atonement theories:
- The earliest was what Aulen called the "classic" view of the atonement, more commonly known as the
ransom theory
, or since Aulen's work, it is known sometimes as the "Christus Victor" theory: this is the theory that
Adam and Eve
made humanity subject to the
Devil
during the fall, and that God, in order to redeem humanity, sent Christ as a "ransom" or "bait" so that the Devil, not knowing Christ could not die permanently, would kill him, and thus lose all right to humanity following the
resurrection
.
- A second theory is the "Latin" or "objective" view, more commonly known as
satisfaction theory
, beginning with
Anselmian
satisfaction (that Christ suffered as a substitute on behalf of humankind, satisfying the demands of God's honor) and later developed by
Protestants
as
penal substitution
(that Christ is punished instead of humanity, thus satisfying the demands of justice so that God can justly forgive).
- A third is the "subjective" theory, commonly known as the
moral influence view
, that Christ's passion was an act of exemplary obedience which affects the intentions of those who come to know about it. This view was put forward in opposition to Anselm's view by
Peter Abelard
.
[10]
Aulen argues that the "classic view" was the predominant view of the early church for the first thousand years of church history, and was supported by nearly every
Church Father
including
Irenaeus
,
Origen of Alexandria
, and
Augustine of Hippo
, to name a few. A major shift occurred, Aulen says, when
Anselm of Canterbury
published his
Cur Deus Homo
around 1097 AD which marked the point where the predominant understanding of the atonement shifted from the classic view to the
satisfaction view
in the
Roman Catholic Church
, and later within
Protestantism
. The
Eastern Orthodox Church
still holds to the atonement view put forward by
Irenaeus
called "
recapitulation
", wherein Jesus became what we are so that we could
become what he is
.
Christus Victor
[
edit
]
Aulen argues that theologians have incorrectly concluded that the early
Church Fathers
held a
ransom theory
of atonement. Aulen argues that the Church Fathers' theory was not that the crucifixion was the payment of a ransom to the devil, but rather that it represented the liberation of humanity from the bondage of
sin
,
death
, and the devil. As the term
Christus Victor
(Christ the Victor) indicates, the idea of "ransom" should not be seen in terms (as Anselm did) of a business transaction, but more in the terms of a rescue or
liberation
of humanity from the
slavery
, and sickness, of sin.
Role of the Trinity
[
edit
]
Aulen states that the chief distinction between
Christus Victor
and the satisfaction view is the contrary emphasis given to the
Trinity
and the Law. The satisfaction view, Aulen claims, contains a 'divine discontinuity' and a 'legal continuity' while Christus Victor emphasizes a 'divine continuity' and a 'legal discontinuity'. He points to the emerging
theology
of
penance
in the Latin Church as the root of Anselm's ideas, particularly in the writings of
Cyprian
. In Anselm's logical but revolutionary extension of penance theology, God is unable or unwilling to pardon humanity without having his Kingship honored by a payment of blood, later this would take the form of "penal substitution", the Reformation idea that God's justice, not his honor, is at stake in the atonement. Since only a man can fulfill mankind's obligations to the Law and to God, Christ must become a man in order to offer perfect penance to God. He does this by satisfying the demands of the Law for a sinless life and by suffering the wrath of the Father for past sins. Aulen takes exception to this model, arguing that the incarnation (and also the resurrection) becomes a legal exercise, a piece of a theological equation based on law theories.
Aulen goes on to argue that Christus Victor reverses this view by uniting Jesus and His Father during the Crucifixion in a subversive condemnation of the unjust powers of darkness. This is followed by the natural emphasis of Christus Victor: the Father's vindication of Jesus in his victorious and bodily resurrection. Advocates of the satisfaction view do not agree with Aulen's characterization, arguing that the satisfaction model does not, in fact, create opposition between the Father and the Son (there has been less disagreement on the "legal continuity" or emphasis of satisfaction atonement, although
J.I. Packer
has notably argued for a version of satisfaction theory with less legal emphasis). In their view, the "divine opposition" is only apparent since the Father desires reconciliation with mankind and Jesus willingly offers himself as a penal substitute. By contrast, Christus Victor depicts Christ's sacrifice, not as a legal offering to God in order to placate his justice, but as the decisive moment in a war against the powers of darkness; the law included.
Writings of the Church Fathers
[
edit
]
Aulen points to the writings of Paul and the Church Fathers as examples of early Christianity's view of the Law as an enemy which must be defeated in order for mankind's salvation to be secured. He seeks to demonstrate that the penance systems of satisfaction theory and penal substitution place an undue emphasis on man's obligation to offer payment to God and on God's obligation to Law. Instead by suffering a death that, before the Law, meant an accursed status, Christ, instead of satisfying an obligation, overthrew the power of the Law, since its condemnation of a perfect man was unjust. Furthermore, death, sin, and the Devil (personalized forces in Christus Victor), are overthrown since Jesus' subsequent resurrection breaks the dominion they once held over human life. Since the resurrection is a mark of the Father's favor despite the Law's curse on crucified men, the atonement, far from reinforcing the Law, deprives and subverts the Law of its ability to condemn. Thus God the Father and God the Son are not set at odds by the cross with the first in the role of Judge and the second in the role of sinner, but are united in seeking the downfall of the Devil's system of sin, death, and Law that enslaves humanity. This view, Aulen maintains, keeps from the errors of penance systems emphasizing Law and man, and reveals the unity within the Trinity's redemptive plan and the freedom of the forgiveness shown to us by God through Christ.
The Incarnation
[
edit
]
Unlike the
satisfaction doctrine
view of the atonement (the "Latin" view) which is rooted in the idea of Christ paying the penalty of sin to satisfy the demands of justice, the classic view of the Early church (Christus Victor) is rooted in the
incarnation
and how Christ entered into human misery and wickedness and thus redeemed it. Aulen argues that the Christus Victor view of the atonement is not so much a rational systematic theory as it is a drama, a passion story of God triumphing over the Powers and liberating humanity from the bondage of sin.
As Gustav Aulen writes: "The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.
Development of the Christus Victor view after Aulen
[
edit
]
The Christus Victor theory is becoming increasingly popular with both
paleo-orthodox
evangelicals
because of its connection to the early Church fathers, and with
liberal Christians
and
peace churches
such as the
Anabaptist
Mennonites
because of its subversive nature, seeing the death of Jesus as an exposure of the cruelty and evil present in the worldly powers that rejected and killed him, and the resurrection as a triumph over these powers.
[10]
As
Marcus Borg
writes,
for [the Christus Victor] view, the domination system, understood as something much larger than the Roman governor and the temple aristocracy, is responsible for the death of Jesus [...] The domination system killed Jesus and thereby disclosed its
moral bankruptcy
and ultimate defeat.
[11]
The
Mennonite
theologian J. Denny Weaver, in his book
The Nonviolent Atonement
and again recently in his essay "The Nonviolent Atonement: Human Violence, Discipleship and God", traces the further development of the Christus Victor theory (or as he calls it "Narrative Christus Victor") into the
liberation theology
of South America, as well as
feminist
and black theologies of liberation.
[10]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Leon Morris, 'Theories of the Atonement' in
Elwell Evangelical Dictionary
.
- ^
a
b
H. N. Oxenham,
The Catholic doctrine of the atonement
(London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865), p. xliv,114
- ^
Schapiro, Meyer (1945).
"
"Muscipula Diaboli," The Symbolism of the Merode Altarpiece"
.
The Art Bulletin
.
27
(3): 182?187.
doi
:
10.2307/3047011
.
JSTOR
3047011
. Retrieved
15 May
2022
.
- ^
Estes, Liz (2017).
"Reincorporating Christus Victor in the Reformed Theology of Atonement"
.
Reformed Journal
. Retrieved
15 May
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Weaver 2001
, p.
[
page needed
]
.
- ^
Marcus Borg (23 September 2003).
The Heart of Christianity
. San Francisco: Harper. p. 95.
ISBN
978-0-06-052676-4
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Aulen, Gustaf (1969) [1931],
'Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement
, translated by Hebert, A. G., Macmillan
- Beilby, James K.; Eddy, Paul R. (2009),
The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views
, InterVarsity Press
- Pugh, Ben (2015),
Atonement Theories: A Way through the Maze
, James Clarke & Co
- Weaver, J. Denny (2001),
The Nonviolent Atonement
, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
External links
[
edit
]