God as Sacrificial Love: A Systematic Exploration of a Controversial Notion

by Asle Eikrem

Overview

In dialogue with a range of post-enlightenment critiques of Christian theologies regarding sacrificial love, Asle Eikrem presents an unconventional systematic approach to this multi-layered and complex theological topic. From Hegel to prominent 20th century theologians, from feminist theologies to postmodern philosophers, this volume engages in a critical conversation with a host of different voices on all the classical topics in theology (creation, trinity, incarnation, atonement, sin, faith, sacraments, and eschatology), also providing a moral and socio-historical vision for Christian living. The result is a unique appraisal of the significance that the life and death of Jesus holds for the world today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567678669
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	01/25/2018
Series:	T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	551 KB

About the Author

Asle Eikrem is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Norway.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1
Introduction

Chapter 2
Theologies of sacrifice – a historical overview

Chapter 3
Modern critiques, recent developments and prevailing challenges

Chapter 4
Sacrificial love and the problem of sacred violence

Chapter 5
God and sacred bloodshed

Chapter 6
God, death and the Trinitarian logic of self-giving

Chapter 7
God and sacred exclusion/inclusion



Chapter 8
Theodicy – the radical nature of the problem of violence



Chapter 9
The love Through Which God Truly Loves Humanity



Chapter 10
The Love Through Which Humanity Truly Loves God


Chapter 11
Self-sacrificial Love as the Love Through Which We Sometimes Love Each Other


Chapter 12
The Monotony of Sacrifice - No End in View?



References

Index

Editorial Reviews

A very rewarding book - I learned a great deal from it ... For those prepared to engage at a deep level with the theology of sacrifice and who are prepared to have cherished theories of atonement put under the spotlight, this book will repay the time and effort demanded.
Anvil Journal

Asle Eikrem has provided the most comprehensive monograph on the sacrifical nature of God's love in recent years. Without ignoring the fruits of the past centuries, he concentrates on the modern and postmodern discussions on sacrifice, love and violence. Careful and thorough analyses of Anglophone and Continental treatments of sacrificece are combined with the outline of his own position: In a compelling way, he shows that also explicitly non-sacrificial theologies rely on the logic of sacrifice (a kind of [self-]giving that implies exclusion or destruction) as a necessary condition of finite human communicative existence, because finite communication can only lead to unity through difference.
Markus Mühling, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany

This book insightfully explores intersection points of philosophy and theology within the wider landscape of sacri cial discourse. Eikrem provides a sophisticated articulation of the concepts of sacri ce which rightly belong to Christian concepts of God and ideals of human ful llment, and a critical analysis of those concepts that emphatically do not. Scholarly readers will value this tightly argued study for its acute historical judgments, the breadth of its sources, and the ambition of its constructive systematic scope.
S. Mark Heim, Yale Divinity School, USA

From the Publisher