From Brian McLaren’s The Story We Find Ourselves In, paraphrased unless in quotes:
1. Substitutionary Atonement - God’s wrath, directed at us because of our sin, could only be satisfied by the death of Jesus (who replaced the OT sacrifices with his perfect self-sacrifice).
2. Ransom - because of our sin, we belong to Satan, and God buys us back with the death of Jesus, then turns the tables on Satan with the Resurrection.
3. Christus Victor - we are dead in our sins, destined for the grave, but Jesus’ death and resurrection triumphed over death itself, enabling us to be made alive with Christ.
4. Perfect Penitent - we are all in need of repentence (God will forgive us out of the goodness of his heart if we do), but we can’t really repent perfectly - we always hold back, we always fall into sin again. Jesus is the perfect penitent (or “repenter”) in our place, and so secures our forgiveness (CS Lewis’ favorite theory, according to McLaren).
5. Moral Influence - Jesus’ self-giving love, expressed in his death on the cross, leads us to love God and love others fully, giving our lives back to God.
6. Powerful Weakness - by becoming vulnerable and submitting to death on the cross, Jesus shows us God’s love for us, as well as the nature of His Kingdom (sacrifice, not violent victory).
7. Embodied Betrayal - our sin is a betrayal of God, and he showed us that in the only way adequate - through his physical torture and death at our hands.
Which of these contain elements of truth? Which rely on misconceptions? Are all of them partly right? Which has the most potential for helping us understand the Christ-event today?
For me, the perfect penitent is misunderstood by the one who wrote this, and I think, moral influence has a very valid orthodoxy, because Abelardo never was confined as heretical for this concept, and if we unite them, we may have what we call Gobermental Atonement which is making Christ the head of our own death to egotistical wants, as Adam was the head of sin as a leading factor in our hearts and souls.