Weaver offers a challenging argument that any reading of the atonement that sees God as requiring violence to produce redemption, namely the death of his Son in most penal substitutionary atonement doctrines, is deeply inconsistent with the nature of God.

In addition to offering his interesting thoughts on a "narrative Christus-victor" view of the atonement, Weaver offers one of the best engagements with contemporary theologies of the atonement I have come across. He sets up honest dialogue with black liberationist, feminist, and womanist objections to the atonement. He is fully willing to admit that classical atonement theologies have contributed to passivity and oppression.

While his reading of the atonement is non-violence, he clarifies it to say that it does not call for passivity, glorified suffering, or anything that might be co-opted into maintaining the status quo.

It should be noted also that his historical clarification about how his doctrine is different from standard Christus Victor doctrines is important as they too fall into violent depictions. His historical discussion points out that as the Roman Empire slowly merged politically with the church, there seems to be a subtle shift in atonement thought. Where in Irenaeus, for instance, Satan's corruption was defeated with Jesus' obedience, in later atonement theologies, Jesus is described as using something similar to political guile to con Satan into crucifying him. Similarly, where the defeat of Satan by Christ is one where Christ's love and forgiveness combats hate and violence, the military language of later Christus Victor slowly legitimated notions of power and conquest in the church-empire. The atonement became a theological shelf piece rather than the Church's embodied politic.

I am still rereading his arguments, but personally, I do not see all forms of the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement to be completely disproven by what Weaver has said. Jesus did die by the legal sentencing of the law and his death offers a paradigm by which all who are excluded from the covenant are now reconciled. However, the law was corrupted into a weapon of condemnation by Satan. So this view separates the corrupted retributive justice of the law from God's restorative non-violent justice. Weaver goes into detail showing that views that attach retributive justice to God almost always legitimate prison systems that offer little hope to inmates. So, that is a very different statement from the sloppy version of PSA that insists Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God, as if Jesus has come to save us from the anger of the Father.

For me, having already been influenced by James McClendon's brilliant analysis of imagery for the atonement in his Doctrine, I intuitively understood what Weaver was saying. However, I found myself a bit disoriented by his fast paced treatment of biblical material. I would have preferred a passage-by-passage treatment.

Presents a great alternative to satisfaction/substitutionary/violent atonement theories. Also had excellent introductions to feminist, womanist, and black liberation theologies and theologians. It took a long time to get through this book because I felt there was a little too much repetition and long-windedness. I also understand repetition being necessary when putting narrative Christus Victor in "conversation" with the various theologies and challengers.

The working assumption in development of this model is that the rejection of violence, whether the direct violence of the sword or the systemic violence of racism or sexism, should be visible in expressions of Christology and atonement. Developing an understanding shaped by nonviolence then lays bare the extent to which satisfaction atonement is founded on violent assumptions. Thus proposing narrative Christus Victor as a nonviolent atonement motif also poses a fundamental challenge to and ultimately a rejection of satisfaction atonement. (7)

While it is not necessary to adopt my specific suggestion for understanding the historical political connotations of the text of the seven seals [of Revelation], it is important to locate Revelation in the first-century world. With the first-century context in mind, it is clear that the symbolism of conflict and victory in the reign of God over the rule of Satan is a way of ascribing cosmic significance to the church's confrontation of the Roman empire in the first century....It is the imagery itself and not a particular historical interpretation that presents the Christus Victor motif. Most importantly, the theological message that in the resurrection of Jesus the reign of God is victorious over evil remains true even if the sequence of evils and destruction symbolized in seals one to six is interpreted only in terms of general references to war, famine, pestilence, earthquake, and other natural disasters. (27)

The resurrection as the victory of the reign of God over the forces of evil constitutes an invitation to salvation, an invitation to submit to the rule of God. It is an invitation to enter a new life, a life transformed by the rule of God and no longer in bondage to the powers of evil that killed Jesus. For those who perceive the resurrection, the only option that makes sense is to submit to the reign of God. Christians, Christ-identified people, participate in the victory of the resurrection and demonstrate their freedom from bondage to the powers by living under the rule of God rather than continuing to live in the power of the evil that killed Jesus. Salvation is present when allegiances change and new life is lived "in Christ" under the rule of God....

The resurrection reveals the true balance of power in the universe whether sinners perceive it or not. Sinner can ignore the resurrection and continue in opposition to the reign of God, but the reign of God is still victorious. It is this revelation of the true balance of power, whether or not acknowledged by sinful humankind, that distinguishes narrative Christus Victor from moral influence theory. (45)

Jesus' confrontation of evil and his eventual victory through resurrection thus do not appear as completely novel events in the history of God's people. It is rather the continuation and culmination of a mission that began with the call of Abraham. (67)

A good reader on Nonviolent atonement. It is not trying to be "the" final definitive book, but more of a set of exploratory essays. A good resource for those who have not had previous knowledge of Anselm's works--note that it is not a commentary on Anselm, but an exploration that highlights what Anselm said and then presents alternative views.

Not particularly readable, nor particularly persuasive.

"In discussions of dogma, the classic questions of atonement concern the nature of sin and how Jesus' death saves humankind from that sin. Narrative Christus Victor accounts for these questions. It portrays sin as bondage to the forces of evil, whose earthly representatives include the structures of imperial Rome, which had ultimate authority for Jesus' death; the structures of holiness code, to which Jesus posed reforming alternatives; and the mob and the disiciples in their several roles. All participants in society down to and including ourselves, by virtue of what human society is, participate in and are in bondage to - are shaped by - the powers represented by these earthly structures.

Salvation is to begin to be free from these evil forces, and to be transformed by the reign of God and to take on a life shaped - marked - by the story of Jesus, whose mission was to make visible the reign of God in our history." --Weaver

Most people agree that Jesus taught non-violence. In light of the scriptural evidence, it's hard to deny. Why then has the Christian church accepted a redemption motif that requires God to inflict violence on Godself in the form of Jesus to set the world right? And how has this justified Christians being involved in warfare and other forms of violence in society? Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver tackles those questions and more in this excellent book.

Weaver gives a brief history of the three major atonement theologies: Christus Victor, satisfaction atonement and moral influence atonement. The first was prevalent in the early centuries of the Christian movement, while the latter two came into popularity in the middle ages. Weaver demonstrates how each motif was influenced not only by Christian teaching and history, but by the political and social forces of the day.

Weaver then presents a new atonement theory, narrative Christus Victor, which allows for Jesus' non-violence to be more readily understood in light of his violent death. In narrative Christus Victor, the atonement starts with the Incarnation, not the Crucifixion, and has more to do with God's Kingdom being revealed and begun, on Earth as it is in Heaven. There is nothing penal or substitutionary about Christ's death, thus the violence - although inevitable - is not a product of God but of sinful humans. And the violence is not necessary for human redemption, but Christ's obedience, even unto death, and his resurrection, show God's sovereignty over the powers of this world. Weaver works backwards from the book of Revelation to the Old Testament to show how this atonement theory syncs with the entire narrative arc of the Christian faith.

This description of narrative Christus Victor takes up maybe a third of the book. The rest is dedicated to engaging with other theologies and theological strands. Weaver shows how narrative Christus Victor actually allies with threads such as black theology, feminist theology and womanist theology. He also dialogues with some of his detractors and other theologians, finding places of congruence, but also pointing out where he sees disagreements between his ideas and others.

This is a very high-level overview and I am positive that I have not done Weaver's book or thought justice in this brief synopsis. He is building on the work of other theologians I admire such as John Howard Yoder and Walter Wink. Reading this book felt like a homecoming to a place I had never been. I have long thought that there must be a better answer to the atonement than the theories with which I was raised and Weaver has provided way forward.

I strongly encourage anyone who has found the violent death of Jesus to be a sticking place in their faith to read this book. I think a lot will become clearer in studying Weaver's arguments - both about why we have the atonement theories we do and also about possible alternatives.

I would give this book five stars on the content alone, but I backed it off a star due to the scholarly and slightly pedantic tone. That tone reduces the readability a bit, especially for a layperson. But this is still an important book, especially for recovering fundamentalists such as me.