THEOLOGY AND POLITICS

First, to reassure you, this will not be a diatribe against the political or religious right or left. There is more than enough of that going on today. Instead, I would like to paraphrase some of Bonnie Kristian's ideas expressed in the April 2022 issue of CT in an article entitled “The Political Tones of Atonement Theories.” I am by no means a theologian, but her short essay seemed to make sense to me.

All orthodox Christians are believers in the Atonement, the concept that Christ died for our sins that they might be forgiven. But theologians over the years could not just let it go at that; they felt the need to explain the exact mechanism by which that was accomplished. And to do so, they often leaned on political models prevalent in their day. Thus, three main explanations arose: Christus Victor, satisfaction theory, and penal substitution.

Christus Victor

This explanation starts with the idea that our sins have caused us to be bound to the oppressive powers of Satan and death. Therefore we need a more powerful force to release us, and that force is Christ. There is certainly enough evidence for this particular view found in the Gospel accounts in which Jesus demonstrates his utter power over illness, death, demons and even the forces of nature. Paul says in Colossians 2:13-15 that Christ disarmed the forces of evil on the cross.

This is the theory that predominated with the early church fathers such as Origen, Athanasius, and Gregory of Nyssa during a time period in the ancient Greco-Roman world filled with nations conquering nations by brute strength and in which a redeemer could purchase freedom for prisoners of war.

Satisfaction Theory

But with the importation of the feudal system to England in the eleventh century, a new atonement theory arose from Anselm, who was the bishop of Canterbury. According to this model, based on the concepts of honor and satisfaction, God (not Satan) demands that mankind's debt to him be paid in order for any sort of reconciliation to take place. Kristian says, “Here, humanity's sin violates divine honor and requires satisfaction we cannot make, so God becomes human to satisfy our obligation on our behalf.”

Penal Substitution

After the passing of another 500 years, the western world witnessed the rise of the legal system, and the former law student John Calvin came up with a corresponding theological counterpart. We are condemned by God for our sin in the cosmic court of law, but Christ voluntarily took our penalty on himself instead. This new theory also had good biblical underpinning in passages ranging from Isaiah 53:5-6 to Romans 3:25. This is perhaps the most common evangelical understanding of atonement, but at least part of its appeal today lies in the fact that we are more familiar with the workings of a court of law that we are with the feudal system or the enslavement of those conquered during warfare.

She closes her article with a caveat that “the cultural response to a theory can tell us something about the longings and needs of our time. It offers insight into our political dramas and reminds us, too, of the different stories that explain Christ's work on the cross.”

Other Applications

1. Kristian's short essay struck a chord with me since for years I have belabored the fact in talks and in print that the various theories of eschatology arose in part due to the political climates of the times in which they arose. The ancient models of historical premillenialism and amillenialism were largely displaced in America by two competing theories. One was postmillennialism, a rosy view of the future associated with political reform movements such as abolition. It was probably the most popular school of eschatology during the 19^th century. However, it took a real beating with the advent of the world wars and Great Depression.

At that time a more pessimistic view of the future came to the forefront, where it still remains – dispensational premillennialism. This view predicts nothing but gloom and doom on a worldwide scale until all the true believers are raptured away from the earth prior to the Great Tribulation. This form of theology was formulated first by John Darby in the 19^th century and widely popularized first through the Scofield Study Bible and much later (1970's) by Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth and related books and movies. Lindsay's admonition is that we are to sit down with the Bible on one hand and the newspaper on the other and just watch God's plan unfold day by day. This, of course, is a prime example of Kristian's thesis that theological trends are greatly influenced by what is happening in the world around at the time.

It is indeed difficult to divorce ourselves from immediate world events when looking at biblical texts. One way, however, is to just take a look at how some “assured teachings” of the past have turned out to be influenced much more by cultural and historical factors than by sound hermeneutics.

2. There is one additional trend that Kristian has noted. Her feeling is that there are signs that Christus Victor is starting to make a comeback on the theological scene due to frustration with, and distrust of, institutional futility and corruption. But unfortunately, she states, along with it has come a disregard for the concept of personal sin. If she is correct, this would certainly fit in with the current political climate in America in which only “might makes right” and any sign of compromise is looked on as weakness or betrayal. And it would explain why certain political and religious pundits have expressed open admiration for someone like Alexander Putin in his treatment of Ukraine since it will prevent them from being influenced any longer by the decadent West.