Atonement and the New Perspective: The God of Israel Covenant and the Cross

Atonement has been described as the central doctrine of Christianity and yet surprisingly the church has never insisted on a particular understanding of how redemption in Christ was achieved. Instead a miscellany of metaphors has been employed each picturing something of Christs work. Recent debate within Reformed Evangelicalism has been characterized by claims for hegemony to be granted to penal substitution versus counter-arguments for a kaleidoscopic multi-model understanding. Notably absent in these discussions however are two considerations. One is any common nexus to draw atonement thought together. The other is any positive theological contribution deriving from Gods preexisting relationship with Israel (the presumed role of which has rather been to provide a negative contrast of law-versus-grace and works-versus-faith as the dark background against which the light of Christ may shine more brightly). Recent scholarship however--particularly the new perspective on Paul--has comprehensively dismantled the old stereotypes concerning first-century Judaism. This book asks how differently we might think about the atonement once it is brought into conversation with the new scholarship. It concludes by proposing a new perspective on atonement in which Christ is central Israel and Torah are affirmed and the traditional metaphors continue to find their place.