Table of Contents
Preface xi
Introduction 1
Part I The God of Jesus
1 Jesus in Acts and the Gospels 13
The Earliest Statements: Acts 13
Expanded Statements: The Gospels 14
The Significance of the Resurrection 23
Narrative Christus Victor: Round One 28
The Story as Atonement Motif 29
Characteristics of Narrative Christus Victor 31
2 Jesus in Revelation and Paul 34
Revelation 35
Reading Revelation 35
The Message of Revelation 36
The Seven Seals 38
Beautiful Woman versus Dragon 43
Preliminary Conclusion 46
Wrath, Judgment, and Divine Violence 47
The Rider on the White Horse and Armageddon 50
Millennium and Great White Throne 51
Narrative Christus Victor: Round Two 54
Narrative Christus Victor: Round Three 56
The Writings of Paul 56
Jesus' Death as a Sacrifice 58
3 Engaging the Atonement Tradition 62
Traditional Atonement Images 62
From Narrative Christus Victor to Satisfaction Atonement 69
The Demise of Narrative Christus Victor 69
Resurrection to Death: The Emergence of Satisfaction 74
Responding to Challenges 81
The Challenge of Paul 81
The Challenge of Newness 81
The Challenges of Threefold Synthesis and of Keeping One Version but Not Another 83
The Challenge of Guilt 86
4 Divine Violence: Bible versus Bible 89
Biblical Violence and Divine Violence 89
Divine Violence: Old Testament 90
Divine Violence: The Gospels 95
Divine Violence: Today's Version 98
The Bible: Another Look 104
The Old Testament 104
Counters to Gospel Violence 119
5 The Conversation about God 123
God versus God 123
An Arbiter: The Narrative of Jesus 125
The Authority of the Bible 129
Anger, Wrath, and Judgment 138
Why It Matters 146
Part II The Reign of God Made Visible
6 Christology and the Body of Christ 153
Five New Testament Christologies 154
Nicea-Constantinople, Cappadocian Trinity, Chalcedon 158
Conversation on Christology 161
Lived Christology Today 170
The Church as the Lived Narrative of Jesus 173
Baptism: Creation of a New World 174
The Church: A Community 177
A Voluntary Church 178
A Peace Church 182
7 Violence and Nonviolence 187
The Nonviolence of Lived Theology 187
God in the Image of Humankind 187
Jesus' Nonviolence 189
Nonviolence Applied 192
8 Atonement, Violence, and Forgiveness 201
Forgiveness in Narrative Christus Victor 201
Forgiveness in Satisfaction Atonement 205
The Practice of Forgiveness: Retributive Justice 207
The Practice of Forgiveness: Psychology 210
The Practice of Forgiveness: Restorative Justice 215
9 Race, Gender, Money 223
Jesus and Racial and Ethnic Reconciliation 223
Jesus and Women 231
Jesus and Economics 235
A Warning: The Unholy Troika 244
The Lord's Supper: An Economic Model 246
Baptism and Lord's Supper as "Sacraments" 253
10 Nature and Suffering 254
Jesus and Nature 254
Two Kinds of Suffering 264
Conclusion 274
The Reign of God Today 275
Trinity 278
The New Jerusalem 279
Version 1 279
Version 2 283
Works Cited 286
Index 297
