Part One: Introduction
1 A Vitally Important Scandal: Why the Cross? (3)
The nonsensical notion of Jesus' success (3); one of the pivotal moments in history; the new "one true God had put into operation his plan for the rescue of the world. They saw it as the day the revolution began." Resurrection the result of crucifixion; much more than saving individuals from sin (4); Galatians 2.20, 1 Corinthians 15.3, John 3.16 (5).
The Jesus Army (6-7). Seeing Salvation exhibition (8). Sellars and the Matthew Passion (9). The cross more than a cliché (10). Pilgrim's Progress (11); theory not precondition for being moved by cross (12-13); hymns and prayers (14-17. Why did Jesus die: historical; the theological; and the self-understanding of Jesus (18).
2 Wrestling with the Cross, Then and Now
Scandal, 1 Corinthians 1.23; the horrible parody of a crucified Messiah (19-20); Gnostic Gospel crucifixion denial; the centrality of the cross in Justin Martyr (21); refusal to define: "... doctrinal definition can only go so far. Shorthand slogans and technical language ... must not be mistaken for the real thing." (22). The dangers of domestication (23); difficulties: "keep love focused upon its true object" (24).
Model and Doctrines. No set theory in the Creeds (25): God in Christ was victor over evil; substitution; sacrifice. The Orthodox never had an Anselm. Anselm on satisfaction and Abelard on moral example (26) not so opposed as later portrayed. Greeks: cross prelude to Resurrection (27). Calvin's justice, holiness and love. How we are saved associated with for what we are saved; Barth: 16thCentury eschatology vacuum. Medieval dual eschatology of heaven and hell: Dante and Michelangelo; the grip of Purgatory; indulgences (28); contemporary use of "death, judgment, heaven and hell"; the rejection of Purgatory. Reformers, Romans 6.7: death pays all debts; Jesus had suffered in our place (29); penal substitution within a Trinitarian economy of love (30); condemning the sacrifice of the Mass, Romans 6.10; rejection of "works" (31). The rejection of Purgatory and the Mass, ecclesial abuse. No challenge to the underlying Gospel idea about pacifying divine wrath, assumed problem Paul addressing in Romans 1.18-32 or 1 Thessalonians 1.10 and 5.9 (32).
In giving the right answers to wrong questions reformers failed to challenge heaven/hell framework (which Eastern theologians challenge to this day); acceptance of old eschatology. "... if the Reformers had focused on Ephesians rather than Romans or Galatians, the entire history of Western Europe would have been different"; Ephesians 1.10, Romans 8.18-24 (33); Plato and Plutarch. Atonement and eschatology must be dovetailed 934); Epicureanism, the Enlightenment and "going home to heaven" has reverted to the Medieval; the new piety not focused on God's kingdom coming on earth as in heaven but on "my sin" and "my saviour". (35); the relationship of the cross only to personal sin, not collective sin, natural disaster, evil: "... it has been tacitly assumed that the cross has nothing to do with social and political evil". "In Christian theology it is God who deals with evil, and he does this on the cross. (37) Any other dealing with evil must be seen in the light of that".
Scandalous - For the Wrong Reasons? (37). The misuse of the cross by persecutors and conquerors. Misuse of the cross by theologians "And on the cross when Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied" (In Christ Alone, Getty/Townsend) (38); "In some churches, if you don't tell this story more or less in this way, people will say that you aren't preaching the gospel". God as horrendous (39). The NT is concerned with the establishment of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Violence the signature tune of the 20th Century (40). Violence in the Old Testament; is the death of Jesus the supreme example of the God of the Bible using violence? (41). The idea that Jesus got in the way of God's anger (42). Goes against John 3.16 easily reversed to God so hated the world that he killed his only begotten son (43); the angry God as a loving God in disguise; the problem of "redemptive violence" (44); the pacifist reaction and denial of violence (45). If we rule out punishment models of atonement, there remain Christus Victor) 46) and the example of ultimate love (john 15.13); "... unless Jesus' death achieved something - something that urgently needed to be done and that couldn't be done in any other way - then it cannot serve as a moral example" (47). Further contemporary questions about violence (48); the eschatology of Ephesians 1.0; how does the cross fit into the Bible? (49).
3 The Cross in Its First-Century Setting (50)
Multiple meanings (51); The Iliad and wrath; The Aeneid and war (52); crucifixion to degrade while killing (53); Cicero, Josephus and Origen (54); Jesus reached the lowest possible point (55); Roman violence, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib (56); this death was not noble (57); Jesus grew up with crucifixion; Varus mass crucifixions before Jesus' childhood in 4 BC and Vespasian/Titus in 66-70 (58); the Roman element of mockery (59): we are superior; in control; our gods are better than your God (60). Euripides and dying for others; Lucan on Cato (61); Dulce et Decorum Est; John 11.50 (62); dying for others excluded crucifixion.
Within the Jewish World. Part III The NT and the People of God (64); combining Passover as an early Christian interpretative lens with anticipating deliverance from sin (atonement) Jeremiah 31.31-34 (64). The disconnect between Messiah and suffering; disconnect between collective suffering and Messiah; but Isaiah 52 disconnected both from Messiah and collective suffering.
Approaching the New Testament (65). The Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Bible (66); NT generated wide range of interpretations (67); book summary (68-69).
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