An excellent book detailing an alternative to the Penal Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement that has become standard for Protestants (and, in a slightly different form, all Western Christians) in the past 400 years or so. Weaver reintroduces the Christus Victor explanantion of the atonement and updates it for today, showing how it is compatible with Black, Feminist and Womanist strands of current theology and linking it to the work of Walter Wink as well as to the Scriptures, in particular Revelation.

His argument, in part, is that the nonviolent approach of Jesus renders the punitive models of atonement and justice invalid. He also points out that the original satisfaction model of Anselm is highly dependent upon that saint's Feudal world-view. In the life of Jesus, Weaver points out that we see the working out of the in-breaking reign of God, validated by his resurrection which marks the defeat of the powers of evil. It is in this victory that we are saved, not in Jesus' death, which was a result of the action of those powers, not of the will of God.

I know that I will be returning to this book again and again along with Mark Heim's complementary "Saved From Sacrifice." My only caveat is a somewhat dry style in the section showing Biblical precedents for the Christus Victor theory. Highly recommended.

**true rating 2.5

Inspired by John Howard Yoder and the pacifist tradition, J. Denny Weaver revisits in this second edition the perceived need for a "nonviolent atonement." Incubated for more than 25 years of reflection, Weaver presents "Narrative Christus Victor" as the most comprehensive and faithful witness to the biblical text. Narrative Christus Victor is drawn from primarily the cosmic battle in Revelation and Jesus' life and ministry in the gospels. In short, Narrative Christus Victor is (chiefly) against satisfaction atonement theories (especially an Anselmian bred), because any satisfaction based theory is "inherently violent." This, in Weaver's understanding, easily jumps to the egregious conclusion that God sanctions -- therefore divinizes -- violence. He corroborates Narrative Christus Victor with Black, Feminist, and Womanist critiques and theologies, though without accepting them wholesale. Weaver's Narrative Christus Victor is certainly a great addition to nonviolent atonement and theology. 

In my reading, however, Weaver is found wanting. Weaver's stringent commitment to nonviolence seems to flavor his theology and readings of the scriptural text more than the overarching narrative of the Bible. Perhaps the "narrative" in Narrative Christus Victor is the narrative he "weaves" for himself? What's more, his nonviolent commitment leads him to omit any divine will for Jesus' death, which inevitably leads him to claim that sin is dealt with through forgiveness of sins -- excluding the cross. The cross was an abrupt end at Jesus' mission to witness to the kingdom. Yet, at the same time, the cross has cosmic significance: it unveils or reveals the true nature of evil and, thereby, breaks their grip. How this is done objectively is not satisfactorily answered. 

Another and, in my opinion, far better Christus Victor account that is not afraid to face the cruelty, severity, shamefulness, and gruesomeness of the cross is Fleming Rutledge's The Crucifixion.

I meant to read this book shortly after it came out a decade ago. At the time I was reading a lot of theology and firming up my views about a lot of things. Actually, changing my views -- becoming a pacifist, for instance.

Changing atonement views was an important part of this process. Through my reading of other theologians -- Cone, Moltmann, McClendon, Yoder, Hauerwas, various feminists, etc. -- and in dialogue with friends, my views of the atonement shifted to embrace the ideas expressed in this book (I remember a great atonement conversation with Greg Horton and Tim Youmans while we were sitting around at Camp Hudgens one autumn). So, reading this was more to fulfill an obligation long outstanding (one reason I hadn't read the book is because I felt it expressed what I had already come to). This was a nice affirmation then.

Note: I did have another period of fermentation on the atonement one winter/spring when I read Walter Wink's Powers That Be and Brock & Parker's Proverbs of Ashes. The adult ed committee at First Central has requested that I lead a class on the atonement sometime in 2012.

In this book Weaver defends a narrative Christus Victor model, exposes many flaws in satisfaction theories and their recent defenders, and engages in a nice dialogue with black, feminist, and womanist theologies (a chapter on queer theologies would be nice -- maybe that is in the newly released second edition? I haven't seen it yet).

The dialogue with and summary of black, feminist, and womanist perspectives is the richest part of the book, showing nice connections with the peace church perspective that Weaver comes from.

This is the theology that I preach and practice. I have found it very accommodating to ministry in the 21st century. I worked out many elements of it while pastoring a CoH-OKC, a place deeply rooted in liberation theology and the eschatological vision of hope (at least I was eschatological in my approach).

Jesus reveals the way of God and is killed by the powers-that-be. His resurrection is God's endorsement of this way of life, victory over the powers, a sign of God's intention for creation, an act of new creation, and more. We are saved by our imitation of and participation in the new creation through living as a disciple of Jesus. This means living in solidarity with the oppressed, working for justice and peace, and living as if the kingdom fullness were now. Greg's phrase -- "If this is how we shall live, then this is how we must live."

gave me a vocabulary and theological grounding to talk about what I have only intuited till now.

Finally finished it all. That's about all I have to say.

My Post-EfM students wanted to delve into the theology of Atonement. We chose this book because of the breadth of its coverage--it has substantial sections, for example, on Atonement theology from Black, Feminist, and Womanist perspectives. In general, the author's focus is on his own perspective, that he labels "Narrative Christus Victor, " not to be confused with the classic "Christus Victor." In brief, "Narrative Christus Victor is a biblical way of understanding the salvific work of Jesus and of God in Christ without imaging God as one who abuses the perfect Son for the benefit of others. The God of narrative Christus Victor does suffer with Jesus in making the reign of God visible in the world. But this suffering was not the specific purpose of Jesus' mission, nor was it required by a divine equation."
The problem all of us encountered as we studied, is that regardless of the academic level of any reader, this book is just not written well. The author's editors did not serve him effectively, particularly in the area of topical organization. For example, he introduces personal details of his own Mennonite theological background under the section focusing on Black perspectives on Atonement. His organizational style forced him to reintroduce his own perspective on Atonement so often that we grew tired of hearing about it. It became a waste of words, space, time, and paper. Also, I kept getting the feeling that he did not deeply understand the work of Abelard, and that his presentation is essentially a 21st Century revision of Abelard, despite his rejection of that motif.
We were using the 2nd edition of the book. The material in the book is fairly well-researched, and quite worthwhile. I would suggest a 3rd edition, deeply revised.

Honestly, perhaps 5 years ago this would have really impressed me, but now my theological maturation has really taken to actual Christian orthodoxy, and so because of that, I can now perceive this work to be the drivel that it is, complete waste of time. Lots of misunderstanding about basic Christian dogma, with an ethical agenda driving the entire inquiry. It isn't honest

This serves both as a great survey of atonement theories and an exploration of the possibility of a nonviolent atonement.

My lifelong struggle to understand and appreciate the death of Jesus and its meaning for me, may have found its resting place in “Narrative Christus Victor” as outlined by J. Denny Weaver in this book. The death of Jesus was not “organized by God” because God demanded that a price had to be paid but was perpetrated by humans who opposed the reign of God.
Weaver takes us through the Gospels and Paul as well as the notion of sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible. He makes the point that Nicene-Chalcedonian Christology, were formulations developed by Churchmen who belonged to the ruling class and seem to separate theology from ethics and allowed ethnic to have a foundation other than the life and teachings of Jesus.
I found this work to be extremely helpful and gave me another reason to be grateful to the Anabaptists.

A comprehensive work that presents a modified soteriology.

Finished this yesterday, September 4, 2022.

Fantastic.

Weaver makes some very interesting points.

All of the classic atonement theories are based on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Basically, describing how Jesus' death saves us. Which means Jesus' life, Jesus' resurrection plays no role in our salvation. Further, he does a great job of describing the history of how the atonement theories move from one to the other.

Starting with Christus Victor (battle imagery, ransoming humanity from Satan) from the time of Constantine to Anselm's Satisfaction Atonement (God's insult must be satisfied - Satan is no longer owed anything to Moral Influence - Christ is simply offering us an example of how to be in the world - which is what makes his death necessary. This is a very rough outline of Weaver's far more extensive description.

In response to this Weaver offers up a new theory of atonement (Narrative Christus Victor). Basically this is the complete Jesus. The Jesus of the parables, the Jesus of the healings, the Jesus who confronts the religious authorities and redefines what it means to keep sabbath, etc. This is the Jesus who was born, taught, died, and lives today. It is this Jesus which saves us.

In my first interview before a District Ordination Committee I was asked a multiple choice question regarding my christology: Was Jesus a person who a) lived, taught, died. Or b) a person who lived, died, and lives today. B) was the answer I was supposed to pick. Further I wasn't given time to sus out the answer. The chairman of the committee snapped as I thought about the question something to the effect of 'this is basic theology - if you can't answer the question immediately then you don't know what you're doing.' Basically, an excuse to hold me over for a few more meetings before passing me on. In my mind, Jesus' resurrection didn't mean anything if Jesus wasn't the Jesus who taught. So, I went with a). Even today, I feel shame in that I wasn't on to their theological game.

If I'd had time to discuss the answer with the chairman I would have talked about the total Jesus. In other words it couldn't be that Jesus just lived, died, and was resurrected from the dead. It had to be the Jesus who lived in between and spent those last three years guiding his first disciples through a multitude of experiences. This Jesus is the one who saves us. If Thomas Brooks or anyone else was the one who lived, died, and lives today it wouldn't mean anything.

Reading Denny Weaver I realize he wrote the book that answers the question asked of my district ordination committee.

I find it interesting - that the most important holidays in our calendar the days when we expect everyone to show up are Christmas Eve and Easter. Jesus' birth and Jesus Death and resurrection are the events when we expect everyone to show up. His birth and death and resurrection are the moments we rehearse and learn over and over again.

Now I have read that the Amish in their worship - visit the Sermon on the Mount every year. This is moving toward a fuller picture of Jesus - a narrative Christus victor.

In the second edition, Weaver dialogues with his critics, and other folks who have weighed in on supporting or rejecting the various atonement theories.

My one critique would be that Weaver can get a bit dense in his explanations. This is not a book which would have gone over with a . . . well . . . fishermen or day laborers. He needs someone to come along and write a translation for the common man.

I for one will not be telling people about Narrative Christus Victor; instead I've begun to talk about how I am preaching the complete Jesus, and not just the one who was born, lived, died, and was resurrected.

Still, Weaver is connecting with a tradition that has been present in the church for quite some time. In Ireland there are these stone High Crosses which date back a thousand years or earlier. On one side there is a crucifix and on the other side there is Christus Victor. My impression is that these stone crosses with there many panels formed an ancient catechism explaining what Jesus means to those who would follow him. These high crosses with their many panels are a concrete example of the Narrative Christus Victor.

Time does not allow me to go into the nonviolent means of Jesus work as narrative Christus victor. Which may be the most important aspect of this work. He leans heavily on the work of Walter Wink.

This is a book which I will be rereading, again and again.

This is a wonderful book of Christian theology that presents a more politically liberating alternative to the standard "satisfaction" atonement theory in which God required the death of Jesus as punishment for sin. Drawing on feminist and black liberation theology, and his Mennonite nonviolent tradition, Weaver describes an atonement theory called "narrative Christus Victor", in which God in Jesus triumphs over human evil by confronting violence with love. Christ's death was a consequence of this confrontation, not a blood sacrifice required by a punishing God. The resurrection, not the crucifixion, reveals God's intentions.