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Christianity Today, July, 2007 |

Cross Purposes

Biggest Christian conference splits amid growing atonement debate.

Madison Trammel | posted 7/02/2007 08:50AM

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Related Elsewhere:

This past spring's Word Alive was the last to be part of Spring Harvest.

The new Word Alive has already confirmed Don Carson, John Piper, and Terry Virgo for its 2008 conference, by UCCF and Keswick Ministries.

The UCCF issued a statement explaining its reasons to end the partnership with Spring Harvest.

Steve Chalke is the founder of Oasis Ministries.

Adrian Warnock's Blog has followed this story, as well as the discussions of atonement that surround it.

Related Christianity Today articles include Mark Dever's "Nothing But the Blood" and "The Good News of God's Wrath."

Our sister publication, Books & Culture, ran a series on the atonement:

Violence and the Atonement | Perhaps no doctrine has been more central to evangelical theology, yet today among evangelicals, as among orthodox Christians more generally, one often hears that the classical understanding of this doctrine is deeply flawed, that we must "rethink the atonement." Is that really so? By Richard J. Mouw (January 1, 2001)

The Disappearance of Punishment | Metaphors, models, and the meaning of the atonement. By Hans Boersma (March 1, 2003)

The Meaning of Christ's Suffering | Graphic meditation on Christ's suffering doesn't appear before the late medieval era, approximately the 14th century. Before that, the presentation is more in accord with the way Christ appears in the Gospel of John. In iconography, he reigns serene from the Cross, a victorious conqueror who has rescued us from Death. By Frederica Mathewes-Green (March 1, 2004)

Antonement: The Penal View? | Toward a trinitarian theology of atonement. By Stephen N. Williams (January 1, 2005)

More is available on our theology page.

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July 2007, Vol. 51, No. 7

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 12 comments.

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Allan W., Portland, Oregon USA

Posted: July 09, 2007 2:55 PM


It's frankly difficult for me to understand what the fuss is all about. This seems to be an inevitable path that Christian groups or churches end up on: disagreements about peripheral issues, rather than disputes about core doctrine. Anyone care to clarify what the issue is? How is this a "battle for the very definition of what is an evangelical"?

Trevor h

Posted: July 04, 2007 8:38 AM

To throw out substitutionary atonement because of a simplistic complaint that it is "child abuse" takes away the beauty of deeper knowledge of God, which can come from a mature theology. God takes pleasure in forgiving sin and takes no pleasure at all in remonstrating with his people. Thus, for His own sake, to make his own joy complete, he took on flesh and laid down his life, under the obedience of Sonship, to take our punishment. Chalke therefore doesn't understand the absolute Unity of the trinity, nor the completeness of our Father's desire to forgive those who sin;thus it was for him pleasureable to substitute One capable of dying for those who have sinned. To deny these things denies the completeness of God's love. To leave us suffering under sin without Christ and without his atoning death would be abuse of a grander scale and one God is not capable of, seeing that he is perfect in his love for us. So, it was his pleasure to hand over his loved One to death on the cross.

wjm	Posted: July 04, 2007 7:54 AM


Reading this article, I was a bit disappointed. There was no full explanation of Chalke's views. I feel that the article would be worthwhile with Chalke's views as well World Alives views.

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