Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross , livre ebook

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179 pages

English

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The cross is central to understanding Christian theology. But is it possible that our postmodern setting requires a new model of understanding the cross? Hans Boersma's Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross proposes an understanding of the atonement that is sensitive both to the Christian tradition and to the postmodern critiques of that tradition. His fresh approach draws on the rich resources of the Christian tradition in its portrayal of God's hospitality in Jesus Christ.

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Christian theology

Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 avril 2006
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441206756
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0806€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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© 2004 by Hans Boersma
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-0675-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
To my parents
guides into eschatological hospitality
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Introduction
Part 1 The Divine Face of Hospitality
1 The Possibility of Hospitality
Hospitality as a Divine Virtue
Levinas, Derrida, and the Impossibility of Pure Hospitality
Divine Violence and Traditional Atonement Theories
Violence as Harm or Injury
2 Limited Hospitality: Election and Violence in Eternity
Divine Violence and Predestination
Calvin and Later Calvinism on Predestination
Limiting Atonement and Hospitality: John Calvin
Limiting Atonement and Hospitality: The Synod of Dort
Conclusion
3 Preferential Hospitality: Election and Violence in History
Deuteronomy and Divine Election
Hospitality and the Violence of Reprobation
No Hospitality without Violence
Violence and Authorial Intent
Living with the Violence of Hospitality
Part 2 The Cruciform Face of Hospitality
4 Atonement, Metaphors, and Models
The Linguistic Web of Metaphors
Functions of Metaphors
The Universality of Metaphors
Using Metaphors Appropriately in Atonement Theology
Relationships among Traditional Models
5 Modeling Hospitality: Atonement as Moral Influence
Moral Influence and the Problem of Violence
Irenaeus and the Fall
Irenaeus and Recapitulation
Christ as the Teacher of God
Moral Persuasion and Hospitality
6 Atonement and Mimetic Violence
René Girard: Cultural Anthropology and Nonviolence
The Violence of the Scapegoat Mechanism
Violence and the Development of Culture
The Cross as Unmasking of Satanic Violence
Ontology of Violence or Politics of Hospitality
I See Satan Fall: Christus Victor Elements
A Nonsacrificial Reading of the Cross
7 Hospitality, Punishment, and the Atonement
The Anselmian Tradition and the Economy of Exchange
Constantine and the Fall Model
Substitutionary Atonement before Anselm
The Violence of Atonement in Augustinian Theology
St. Paul and the Possibility of Unconditional Hospitality
Overcoming the Economy of Exchange
8 Atonement, Violence, and Victory
Gustaf Aulén: A Lutheran Christus Victor
Irenaeus: Recapitulation and Christus Victor
Gregory of Nyssa: Justification of Divine Deception
Recovery of the Christus Victor Theme
Darby Kathleen Ray: Feminism and Deception
Conclusion
Part 3 The Public Face of Hospitality
9 The Church as the Community of Hospitality
The Church as the Presence of Christ
Evangelical Hospitality
Baptismal Hospitality
Eucharistic Hospitality
Penitential Hospitality
Cruciform Hospitality: Salvifici Doloris
10 Public Justice and the Hospitality of Liberation
Justice as a Public Category
Radical Orthodoxy and the Hospitality of Public Justice
Public Justice and a Theology of Liberation: Hospitality and Freedom
Restorative Justice and the Hospitality of Forgiveness

Epilogue: The End of Violence: Eschatology and Deification
Bibliography
Subject Index
Author Index
Scripture Index
Preface
It is not always easy to keep the hospitality of God in the center of our vision. Violence has a tendency to obscure this vision and to diminish our appreciation of divine hospitality. As in the title of this book Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross so in our personal lives and in our theological reflection, violence tends to take center stage, making it difficult to see the hospitality of God’s grace that beckons us into the eschaton of peace. Today, perhaps more so than at any other period in the history of the Church, people struggle to give an account of the love of God in the face of so much senseless violence. We stand face-to-face with the question: Is it really possible to give a theological account of the hospitality of God? Or is such a notion a mere chimera, and are we inevitably and forever mired in violence?
This book gives an account, albeit indirectly, of my journey as I have grappled with these questions. The Reformed tradition, which continues to be my home, has especially been accused of complicity with violence. The centrality of predestinarian theology, the retributive character of substitutionary atonement theology, and the iron logic of Calvinist theological systems have all been the object of sharp criticism. This book makes clear that I believe some of this critique is justified. The heart of God does not harbor in exact parallel fashion love and wrath, mercy and justice, election and reprobation, hospitality and violence. The second chapter of this book, on divine election and limited atonement, illustrates where I believe such parallelisms in Calvinist predestinarian thought fall short. At the same time, however, I have become convinced that in significant ways the Reformed tradition occupies its rightful place within the broad tradition of the Church. Each of the three main atonement models including, therefore, a penal view of the cross have their roots in the ancient tradition of the Church.
Weary of the violence of past border clashes, we may be tempted to give up on our theological heritage altogether. But this would be a serious mistake. What I wish to do in this book is to reappropriate the tradition of atonement theology in an ecumenical attempt to contribute positively to what Thomas Oden has recently called “the rebirth of orthodoxy.” I draw on what I have come to regard as positive elements in the historic Christian faith and in particular in the Reformed tradition. This comes to the fore in my reevaluation of violence as something that is not inherently negative; in my insistence that boundaries can function in wholesome ways and need at times to be defended; as well as in my argument that restorative justice can only function if we are willing to include the notion of punishment. I would describe my view of the atonement, therefore, as a modified Reformed position that wishes to draw on elements throughout the catholic tradition.
Many have contributed to this book over the past couple of years. I wish to mention particularly the invaluable support and generosity of the board members and friends of the Geneva Society on whose behalf I have been teaching at Trinity Western University for the past five years. Many of them have read and commented on (parts of) the book. A sincere thank-you, therefore, to Rick Baartman, Harry Boessenkool, Yolanda Bouwman, Dennis de Groot, Lee Hollaar, John Koster, Nick Loenen, Bert Moes, Margie Patrick, John Siebenga, Bart van der Kamp, Greg van Popta, Tako van Popta, Wilma Vanderleek, and Pieter Vanderpol. Without their support of my position as Geneva Chair and without their active interest in this research project, I would not have been able to bring it to completion. Also, I gratefully acknowledge the generous support for the Geneva Society by the Oikodome Foundation throughout this period.
The research for this book has benefited from two seminars. In 2000, I participated in a six-week seminar with Miroslav Volf as part of Calvin College’s Seminars in Christian Scholarship program funded through the Pew Charitable Trusts. In many ways, Miroslav’s book, Exclusion and Embrace , has been an inspiration for my project, and I deeply value his kind support and his encouragement to mine the Church’s traditional teaching on the atonement. Two years later, Bob Webber and Dennis Okholm directed a theological faculty workshop at Wheaton College for the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Their enthusiasm and their love for the Christian tradition have contributed in meaningful ways to the ethos of my book as it draws from this broad Christian tradition. Needless to say, both seminars were not only great learning experiences but also have led to lasting friendships and memories.
Much of the material in this book stems from papers that I have presented at academic conferences. I appreciate the feedback that I received at meetings of the Association for Reformational Philosophy (in the Netherlands), the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association, the Canadian Theological Society, the Christian Theological Research Fellowship, and the Evangelical Theology Group, the latter two at annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion. Although the chapters in this book have not been published before in their entirety, scattered throughout the book are both small and large segments of published essays. I appreciate the permission to republish essays from the following journals: Journal for Christian Theological Research , Pro Ecclesia , Psyche en Geloof , and Scottish Journal of Theology . I have listed each of these essays in the bibliography. Several of them are the result of grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, channeled through the kind assistance of the research office at Trinity Western University.
The wonderful experience of teaching a course on atonement theology and thereby testing