A Constructively Critical Conversation between Nonviolent and Substitutionary Perspectives on Atonement: Theological Motifs and Christological Implications

This dissertation will pursue a constructively critical conversation between nonviolent and substitutionary perspectives on atonement, for the purpose of reflecting theological motifs and Christological implications. I will critically engage Rita Nakashima Brock, Raymund Schwager, and J. Denny Weaver’s nonviolent approaches with the substitutionary doctrines of St Anselm, John Calvin, and Karl Barth. I conclude that theological reflection on the atonement is rendered problematic when any specific motif is absolutized, thereby opening the door to ideological projection of human needs. This holds true for theories that emphasize the nonviolent character of atonement as much as for any other model. In this thesis, I develop a holistic theology of atonement that critically incorporates elements of both traditional substitutionary theories, with their emphasis on the reconciliation between God and sinful humankind, and contemporary nonviolent theories, with their emphasis on the disclosure of structural evil by Jesus’ life and death. These dimensions of atonement are inseparable from the person of Christ, understood in Chalcedonian terms as both the eternal Son of God and the human Jesus of Nazareth. I will demonstrate that the nonviolent models’ emphasis on Jesus’ victimization by structural evils can co-exist with his sacrificial death, insofar as he takes sin, evil, and divine judgment into his own divine-human person. God’s disclosure of his solidarity with victims is inseparable from his act of actually liberating them from the violent powers of this world and reconciling them to himself.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD