Images of Atonement Contest
From Mark Baker
Discussion about alternative ways to understand the atonement is thriving. Numerous books on the topic, including A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight and Recovering the Scandal of the Cross by Joel B. Green and Mark D. Baker have been published in recent years. These two books and others have advocated embracing a diversity of explanations of how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus provide salvation rather than using the penal substitution theory of atonement as the one and only explanation. As McKnight argues, to only use one explanation atonement would be like going out to play golf with only one club in your bag.
At the level of theological discourse many people now have more clubs in their bag. At the same time the reality is that most Christians are not reading these books and their understanding of the atonement has been shaped as much by images and stories illustrating penal substitution as by well argued explanations. This penal substitution imagery is powerful, graphic and concrete. In order for the rich benefits of alternative atonement theology to move beyond the circles of those who read theology books we must develop alternative imagery. We need not just a golf bag full of different explanations; we need a bag full of different imagery to use in conversations over coffee, in sermons, youth meetings, on blogs, etc. This contest aims to help this happen both through encouraging a wide number of people to work at developing an image, and then also by sharing the best images so that many others can use them.
The judges will be looking for the following—which is based on what we think is needed today:
Contextual – state the setting of your presentation. We seek to follow the biblical model of using imagery that communicates the saving significance of the cross and resurrection in a way that both connects with and challenges people in a particular context.
Format – we are open to a variety of formats including, but not limited to video, tracts, talks to youth, blog entries, dramas, sermons (in written format) and magazine articles.
Image – it is crucial that the presentation provide not just content about the atonement, but that it contains at least one dynamic and engaging image that communicates in powerful and clear ways the saving message of Jesus’, life, death and resurrection.
Biblical – the presentations may borrow biblical imagery and adapt it for your context, or may use language and imagery not found in the Bible. In either case what it communicates should resonate with biblical teaching on the atonement. See the books mentioned above (McKnight and Green & Baker) for guidance on this point.
Examples – We recommend the book, Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross: Contemporary Images of Atonement as both inspiration and guide. It is the one book on the atonement that we are aware of that focuses on articulation rather than explanation. It contains 18 actual presentations from a variety of contexts of people doing what we have outlined above (including presentations by: Richard Hays, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian McLaren and Steve Taylor).
Send submissions to: atonementmetaphors@gmail.com
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