Rethinking the Atonement
- Theology
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Baker Academic (Baker Publishing Group)
- Published: 2022
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Publisher's Description
Traditional views of the atonement tend to be reductive, focusing solely on Jesus's death on the cross. In his 2011 groundbreaking book Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews, David Moffitt challenged that paradigm, showing how the atonement is a fuller process. It involves not only Jesus's death but also his resurrection, ascension, offering, and exaltation. In the succeeding years, Moffitt has continued to expand and clarify his thinking on this issue. This book offers a more fulsome articulation of his work on the atonement that reflects his recent thinking on the topic. Moffitt continues to challenge reductive views of the atonement, primarily from the book of Hebrews, but he engages other New Testament passages as well. He offers fresh insights on sacrifice and atonement, the importance of resurrection and ascension, Jesus's role as priest, and a new perspective on Hebrews. This important book brings Moffitt's award-winning and influential scholarship to a broader audience. The book includes a foreword by N. T. Wright.
Endorsements (7)
“Rarely does a new body of scholarship come along that compels us to rethink what we thought we knew about the New Testament. Moffitt’s work on the Letter to the Hebrews is exactly that sort of game-changing intervention. This new collection of deeply researched essays builds upon and persuasively amplifies his earlier interpretations of resurrection and atonement in Hebrews, while also illuminating the theology of other New Testament documents. For those whose faculties have been trained by practice to recognize serious and illuminating exegesis, this book is not milk but solid food.”
“A new publication by David Moffitt is always a treat. This book brings together a number of seminal essays in which Moffitt applies his precise and illuminating analysis of the biblical logic of sacrifice to Hebrews and other NT texts. Using a combination of exegetical rigor and theological insight, Moffitt makes a compelling and urgent case for re-examining the saving significance of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension (as well as his death) within the biblical understanding of atonement. This volume will be indispensable for the study of Hebrews, and it should be foundational for the development of atonement theology.”
“From the author who has revolutionized Hebrews’ studies, Rethinking the Atonement presents in one place many of David Moffitt’s exegetical arguments. Readers are challenged to recover a holistic affirmation of God’s work in Christ: incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and session. Moffitt has changed not only how I read Hebrews but how I conceive of my faith. I’m eager to put this volume into the hands of my students and parishioners.”
“Moffitt argues compellingly that while Jesus’s death on a cross completes the earthly work of salvation, his priestly work in heaven continues, and this too is part of his saving, and atoning, work. This collection of essays is not simply a rethinking but a Copernican Revolution in atonement theology, both because it concerns the movement of a celestial body (the risen and ascended Jesus Christ) and because it calls for a reversal of some traditional soteriological polarities.”
“Rethinking the Atonement represents rigorous, in-depth biblical scholarship of the highest order. It is not merely original; it promises to be no less than field changing. That is because it will no longer be possible to write on the atonement, let alone Christology, without engaging in detail with the exegetical arguments that Moffitt presents. What is most exciting, however, is not simply the lucid way in which he demonstrates that widely held assumptions about the atonement are deeply flawed but that he does this in a way that brings the gospel alive. This is one of those rare books in biblical scholarship that should be compulsory reading not only for biblical scholars but also for academic theologians, students, and pastors alike. I cannot recommend this remarkable volume highly enough!”
“This is a spectacular set of essays from one of the greatest living New Testament scholars—David Moffitt. This collection provides a convenient and affordable anthology of some of his most influential work. For those who are unfamiliar with Moffitt, this is your chance to remedy that, and for those who are familiar, this is your chance to have some of his most influential work readily available.”
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