| Summary: | Atonement theories have great implications for the soteriological paradigms
associated with them, but their significance has not always been recognized in the
formulation of theological systems, the lack of dogmatic definition by ecumenical
council encouraging diversification and isolation from other doctrinal loci. The
strongest coherence between an atonement model and soteriology can be seen in the
reformed tradition, and its theory of penal substitution has become the standard
accepted by many non-reformed protestant groups, including classical pentecostalism.
Tensions persist in the theological system of pentecostalism because of its pairing of
penal substitution with the soteriological paradigm of its foundational symbol of faith,
the full gospel of Jesus as savior, sanctifier, baptizer with the Spirit, healer, and
coming king. This vision of salvation is broader than that of protestant orthodoxy,
which through its atonement theory deleteriously separates the death of Christ from
his work in life and strictly limits the subjects and nature of salvation, specifically to
addressal of elect individuals’ sins. It is proposed that this tension within the
pentecostal system be relieved not through a reduction of its soteriology but a
retrieval of the Christus victor model, the atonement theory of the ancient and Eastern
church. As reintroduced to the Western church by G. Aulén, this model interprets the
saving work of Christ along two lines: recapitulation, the summing up and saving of
humanity via the incarnation, and ransom, the deliverance of humanity from the
hostile powers holding it in bondage. In a contemporary, pentecostal appropriation of
this model, aid is taken from K. Barth’s concept of nothingness to partially
demythologize the cosmic conflict of the Bible, and pentecostalism reinvigorates the
Eastern paradigm of salvation as theosis or Christification via the expectation of the
replication of Christ’s ministry in the Christian. The study shows Christus victor can
give a more stable base for a broader soteriology that is concerned with the holistic
renewal of the human person. To demonstrate the developed model’s vigor and
applicability beyond pentecostalism, the study closes by bringing it into conversation
with the concerns of three contemporary theological movements. === Philosophy & Systematic Theology === D. Th. (Systematic Theology)
|
|---|
