"Exploring Christology and Atonement" by Andrew Purves. A Review
Exploring Christology and
Atonement: Conversations with John McLeod Campbell, H. R. Mackintosh and
T. F. Torrance
Andrew Purves
IVP Academic
PO Box 1400
Downers Grove, IL 60515
ISBN: 978-0-8308-4077-9; $30.00; August 2015
Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber for Deus Misereatur
Atonement in Christian thinking is a subject with a protracted
and polychromatic history. From the earliest days to the present there have
been proponents of recapitulation in
Christ, bait and switch, ransom, moral example, Christus Victor, as well as propitiation
and penal substitution, just to name a few. The one theme each has in
common is that they are all related to the incarnation. On occasion something
just a bit different or unique surfaces and catches one’s eye. Andrew Purves, Jean
and Nancy Davis Professor of Historical Theology at Pittsburgh Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania, recounts and refines the atonement thread of three
Scottish theologians in his new book, “Exploring
Christology and Atonement: Conversations with John McLeod Campbell, H.
R. Mackintosh and T. F. Torrance.” This is a book written by a theologian for
theologians and theologically trained pastors; but it is written to make these
three Scottish theologians a bit more accessible to those not in-the-know.
Purves introduces “Exploring Christology and Atonement” with an exceptional chapter on
locating theology. Since, in the end, the author’s aim is pastoral, then he
rightly re-plugs theology back into the life of the church and the life of
believers. As he observes, the “goal of both baptism and theology is Christian
identity and formation so that the Christian lives and thinks “in Christ””
(20). Therefore, in both discipleship and in doing theology, we “must learn to
follow Christ” since “theological knowledge is the fruit of sharing in Christ’s
life” (21). The way we rightly do theology, then, must be in communion with
Jesus Christ, for he is “both the center of and entry way into the doctrine of
God” (22). This brings Purves to point out the importance of theological
humility. Theology is always in route; it has not arrived, and therefore is
always open to correction and revision as it moves toward becoming more
faithful.
From the
introduction “Exploring
Christology and Atonement” then moves out onto the field setting up in its game
formation. The first three chapters approach Christology, with a specific
emphasis on the magnificent exchange and union with Christ. In each chapter
Purves takes time to bring in the three Scottish theologians, allowing them to
briefly speak for themselves. The overarching thrust in the chapters on
Christology is that Jesus Christ is the atonement, “Christ does who he is”
(38). It quickly, and clearly, becomes obvious that for Purves all three
Scottish theologians wanted to move away from what they perceived as an
abstract, instrumentalist “forensic” model of atonement, to a more personal and
filial union with Christ.
The next three
chapters address the atonement specifically, and here the author allows each of
the Scottish theologians to have their own chapter. All three, according the
Purves, want to move away from Jesus being a satisfaction for the wrath and
justice of the Father:
·
McLeod
Campbell emphasizes that in the incarnational atonement Jesus brings God to us
and us to God, for the atonement is “not a punishment for sin but rather a spiritual
and moral access to the Father through Christ’s confessing our sin and through
union with Christ, having our adoption as “sons” of God”, for “peace with God
is none other than our participation in the life of Christ” and “participation
in the love of the Father’s heart” (145-6). Jesus’ death is his confessing our
sin and his repentance for our law-breaking, his “amen” to the Father’s
judgment on sin; in “offering an adequate repentance, Christ offers the only
satisfaction to divine justice that could be called a moral and spiritual, as
opposes to a legal, atonement or propitiation” (153).
·
H. R.
Mackintosh follows the path McLeod Campbell has laid out, to include Jesus’ vicarious
repentance and the movement away from the legal categories of atonement and
justification. But H. R. Mackintosh wants to draw in the vicarious suffering of
Christ, as he is bringing God to us and us to God. The cross is the place where
God’s own anguish and horrific grief over unforgiven sins are displayed, that “atonement,
on any level, is costly to the party who forgives. The sin that is forgiven
must in a real sense be borne by the party who pardons” (182).
·
Thomas
F. Torrance continues this trajectory, going further and deeper. In the
incarnation, when Christ takes on our humanity, he takes “our minds and wills
in their estrangement from God, bending them back into agreement to God’s will.”
Therefore “the atonement is the atoning mediation of Christ as an act of God
dealing with sinful humanity in judgment against sin and the atoning mediation of Christ as an act of humankind in
confessing our sin and vicariously bearing it before God” (211). It appears to
me that for Torrance this means that in the incarnation Jesus assumed our
sinful humanity – tainted and contaminated – and from within original
sin he acted as one of us and for us. Further, Christ’s incarnation and
atonement was for all humankind, his atonement is sufficient and efficient for
all humanity; “Christ died for all humankind by taking our common human nature
upon himself. This is a finished work, not a possibility. God has taken the
soteriological decision on our behalf” (236). Jesus has moved all humankind
into the category of “saved”, yet a sinner can say “no” to his new place in
Christ, and so in refusing divine love “is shattered unto damnation” (236).
“Exploring
Christology and Atonement” ends with a chapter that shows, ever so briefly, how
the three Scottish theologians are helpful for faith and ministry. Purves wants
to move Christology and atonement proposed in the book out of the abstract and
theoretical, because a “theory concerning Jesus has no redemptive impact. It is
Jesus who saves” (242). In the end, these three Scottish theologians should be
seen and remembered in these ways; “McLeod Campbell, the theologian of the love
of God, Mackintosh, the theologian of the experience of forgiveness in Jesus
Christ, Torrance, the theologian of the grace of God in Jesus Christ” (254).
“Exploring
Christology and Atonement” was a bit of a stiff read, mainly because I have
barely read any of these three Scottish theologians. The benefit was that I
feel I have a better sense of who they were, what they presented, and how they
got there. The book has also helped to stimulate my own thinking on the
incarnation of Christ and atonement brought about by Christ. It is a book
written by a theologian for theologians and theologically trained pastors; and
it is written with a specialized theme in mind. If that theme intrigues you,
then I recommend the book to you.
I appreciate the
kindness of InterVarsity Press and IVP Academic for the free copy of the book
used for this review.
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