1. Alister McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction
Chapter 13
The Doctrine of Salvation in Christ
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

2. Christian Approaches to Salvation
Salvation is linked with Jesus Christ
The cross is constitutive of salvation
Irenaeus
The cross is illustrative of salvation
John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology
Maurice F. Wiles, Remaking of Christian Doctrine
Colin Gunton’s critique
Salvation is shaped by Jesus Christ
The Christian life takes the form of the believer’s sustained attempt to imitate Christ
The Christian life is a process of “being conformed to Christ”
The eschatological dimension of salvation
Paul: justification, sanctification, salvation
Past, present, and future elements
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

3. The Foundations of Salvation: The Cross of Christ
Theories of the atonement --> soteriology
The cross as a sacrifice
Letter to the Hebrews
Athanasius
Augustine of Hippo
Hugh of St. Victor
Threefold office of Christ (prophet, priest, king)
Protestant theologians
François Turrettini
John Pearson
Enlightenment
John Locke
Deist Thomas Chubb
Joseph Butler
Horace Bushnell
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

4. The cross as a victory Christ the victor (Christus victor)
Death as a ransom
Origen
Gregory the Great
Rufinus of Aquileia
The harrowing of hell (1 Peter 3:18-22)
Enlightenment: approach criticized
Rational criticism of belief in the resurrection of Christ
Existence of Satan and evil forces dismissed as premodern superstition
Renewal: Gustaf Aulén, Christus Victor
Rudolf Bultmann’s demythologization
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

5. The cross and forgiveness of sin
Anselm of Canterbury, Why God Became Man
God created humanity in a state of original righteousness, with the goal of bringing humanity to a state of eternal blessedness
The state of eternal blessedness is contingent on obedience, which humanity cannot achieve because of sin
The situation can only be remedied if satisfaction is made for sin
Only God, not humanity, is capable of providing this satisfaction
A “God-man” possesses both the ability (as God) and the obligation (as a human being) to pay the required satisfaction
Thomas Aquinas
Significance of the love shown by Christ in dying on the cross (Abelard)
Inherent worth of Christ’s death is grounded in his divinity
Sixteenth century
Representation
Participation
Substitution
Enlightenment critiques
Criticisms of the “history of dogma” movement
Recovery: P.T. Forsyth, The Justification of God
Karl Barth, “The Judge Judged in Our Place”
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

6. The cross as a demonstration of God’s love
Augustine, Clement
Peter Abelard ( )
Juana de la Cruz ( )
Enlightenment degree Christology
The cross has no transcendent reference or value
The person who died on the cross was a human being
The only theologically valid interpretation of the cross is its demonstration of the love of God toward us
F.D.E. Schleiermacher
The religious value of Christ’s death
Urbildlichkeit (the quality of being an ideal)
Vorbildlichkeit (the quality of being able to evoke a given ideal in others)
Exemplarist approach
Hastings Rashdall ( )
Weak understanding of human sin
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

7. Violence and the cross: the theory of René Girard
Anthropological approach to religion
Destructive violence is at the heart of the sacred
Mimetic desire
The scapegoat
Jesus as scapegoat --> lamb of God
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

8. “Can a Male Savior Save Women?” Feminists on Atonement
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Radical feminists
Critique of the mode of redemption
Sado-masochism in Anselm’s substitionary atonement
Divine child abuse
Cross as a symbol of injustice
Denny J. Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

9. Models of Salvation in Christ: Classical and Contemporary
Contextualization
A receptor-oriented gospel
Some Pauline images of salvation
Adoption
Justification
Redemption
Salvation
Deification: being made divine
“God became human, in order that humans might become God” (Athanasius)
Incarnation and salvation
Characteristic emphasis in eastern Christianity
Becoming God (theosis) and becoming like God (homoiosis theoi)
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

10. Righteousness in the sight of God
Martin Luther
C.S. Lewis
Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be?”
Personal holiness
John Wesley
Notion of perfection
American Methodism
Phoebe Worrall Palmer ( )
Authentic human existence
Existentialism
Rudolf Bultmann
Paul Tillich
Political liberation
Latin American liberation theology
Leonardo Boff
Oscar Romero
Spiritual freedom
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

11. The Appropriation of Salvation in Christ
The institutionalization of salvation: the church
Cyprian of Carthage
“Outside the church, there is no salvation”
Church architecture
The privatization of salvation: personal faith
Pietism
Philip Jakob Spener’s Pious Wishes (Pia Desideria)
Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf
John and Charles Wesley
Fanny J. Cosby
Wiley-Blackwell 2010

12. The Scope of Salvation in Christ
Two central affirmations
God wishes all people to be saved
Salvation is possible only in and through Christ
Universalism: all will be saved
Origen
“restorationist” soteriology
John A. T. Robinson
Only believers will be saved
Augustine
John Calvin
Faith, but not explicitly Christian
John Wesley
C. S. Lewis
Particular redemption: only the elect will be saved
Limited atonement
predestination
Wiley-Blackwell 2010