Over at Evangel, I have a few thoughts on the relationship between two formulations of the atonement--propitiation and Christus victor--and how we ought understand the Gospel in light of them. I want to include both in the Gospel, even if we locate and prioritize them differently. It seems to me that while ignoring propitiation for the sake of Christus victor tends to produce the vices of the "social gospel," ignoring Christus victor for the sake of propitiation leads to an individualized, de-socialized Gospel. The former error might be more destructive, but neither positions are right.
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Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.
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