Word: crucifixion
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...Jesus Die? Mel Gibson's film and Holy Week prompt believers to explore a still thorny query: Exactly what was the divine calculus by which the Crucifixion saved humanity...
...agenda of American culture," says Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University and author of American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon. "This is a major shift. Atonement has been Belief No. 10 for Americans. But they care more now. This is Crucifixion Christianity...
When the early church fathers did pick up on the scriptural language of Christ's death as a ransom, the payee was not God but the devil, who some felt had legitimate claim on humanity because of Adam's fall. But others preferred another scenario: to see the Crucifixion and Jesus' subsequent descent into what they called Hades as a kind of divine bait-and-switch scheme, whereby the devil thought he had claimed a particularly virtuous human victim only to discover he had allowed into his sanctum the power that would eventually wrest humanity back from his grasp...
...standing, like a lowly serf helpless to erase an injury to a great lord. Eternal damnation seemed unavoidable, except for a miracle of grace. God "recast" himself into human form so that Christ, who was both innocent of sin and also God's social equal, could suffer the Crucifixion's undeserved agony, dedicating it to the Father on humanity's behalf. Christ "paid for sinners what he owed not for himself," wrote Anselm reverently. "Could the Father justly refuse to man what the Son willed to give him?" No, thank goodness...
...world can strike a sour note if the sermon that follows it waters down the essence of Christianity"--there are probably five like Methodist Janet McLeod, a publicist from the same state who notes, "We get our strength for living from Jesus' parables and his mission work. In the Crucifixion, we get our hope for what comes next." Graham, the Plano Baptist pastor, says, "It's like asking which wing of the airplane is more important...