By: Melissa J. Barciela Mandala   My road to academics began in my teenage years. Though I would often say, “I want to be a veterinarian” and “I want to be a nurse,” I eventually returned to a fundamental sense that biblical studies is what I love and had always loved as a young person. I completed my undergraduate degree at Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBAU) in Biblical and Theological Studies to enter full-time ministerial work. Toward the end of my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to do a study abroad program at the University of Oxford. Through my tutorial experiences a ..read more

By: Lynn H. Cohick There is a reason I like doing podcasts rather than writing blogs – I often don’t know what I think until I hear myself say it! (Paraphrased from a quote by Flannery O’Connor). But the discipline of writing down ideas and shaping arguments is a necessary one for me, as it helps me process the world around me. I slow down enough to type, and I have to think sequentially, sentence by sentence, rather than the pinball approach that sometimes happens as ideas spill out of my mouth. The discipline of writing also forces me to engage with wider conversations, and move out of my o ..read more

By: David M. Moffitt If we know one thing about sacrifice, we know this: Sacrifice was about killing animals on altars. Artistic renderings and online videos depicting animals lying bound and/or slaughtered on an altar reinforce the point. With respect to Leviticus and the temple in Jerusalem, however, such images are completely wrong. No animals were slaughtered on the temple’s outer altar. Two facts show how non-sensical this idea is. First, the outer altar had a perpetual fire burning on it (Lev 6:12–13). Second, priests applied sacrificial blood to that altar, usually by dashing it around ..read more

By: Stefania Knecht In the 1940s, my great-grandparents fled from what is today Western Ukraine to Poland. A week ago, my parents called and said they were doing a humanitarian supply run to L’viv. “It’s our duty,” my father said. And so, as a Polish citizen with Ukrainian roots, and with a doctoral thesis on religious peacebuilding in Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, I knew I had to join them. For 24 hours we drove to L’viv and back on two hours of sleep, spent excruciating hours at border control, and dropped off food, clothing, home, and medical supplies at three differe ..read more

By: Christopher Woznicki Among certain Protestants—especially those within the evangelical-Reformed tradition—the penal substitutionary model of atonement of atonements holds a prominent place. On a weekly basis adherents of this tradition speak of Christ’s work on the cross in sermons, hymns, and confessions in such a way that Christ is seen as a substitute on behalf of sinners by bearing the punishment that sinners deserved—or at the very least bearing what would be considered a punishment if they had suffered it themselves. To them, hearing of Christ’s substitutionary punishment is good new ..read more

By: Dr. Lynne Taylor I have a post-it note on my computer monitor with the word “flourishing” on it. It’s a reminder of why I do what I do, and it helps provide a grounding or focus when I’m feeling overwhelmed by workload or possibilities. My focus on human flourishing has always been central to my work and research interests, although how that has been expressed has changed over time. As a Christian, I see the potential that churches have to help support the holistic wellbeing (flourishing) of their congregations, as well as the wider communities that surround them. Therefore, most of the wo ..read more

By: Oliver D. Crisp Down through the centuries many Christians have believed that the right way to think about how Christ is said to reconcile fallen human beings to Godself is in terms of his receiving the punishment due for human sin on the cross. Or, if not the punishment strictly speaking, then the penalty due for our sin that would be a punishment if we, as the guilty parties, were the ones actually suffering the harsh treatment that Christ suffers on the cross. Christ suffers and dies in our place. He takes on the penalty of our sin. These are all traditional theological claims. But they ..read more

By: Christa L. McKirland Kia ora koutou!  This is the greeting I have learned since moving to Aotearoa New Zealand in January of 2020. Literally, this greeting means “Wishing life on you all” in te Reo Māori (the language of Indigenous New Zealanders). Little did I know that seven weeks after arriving in this new land we would all be in lock-down and my first class to teach as a gainfully employed theologian would be online. This was not the life-giving start to teaching I had hoped for! However, in spite of all of the challenges that the global pandemic has created, I have also been dee ..read more

By: Carl Mosser It is frequently observed that the ecumenical creeds say little about the nature of atonement. While that is true, the most prominent confessions of the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches agree on one important aspect of its nature: Christ made satisfaction for humanity’s sin.[1] Yet, few theologians make constructive use of the concept even if they profess commitment to catholicity. This has been the case ever since F.C. Baur portrayed satisfaction as an outdated intellectual artifact tied to Roman legal conventions, medieval feudalism, scholasticism, and sacramental ..read more

By: Carl Mosser In much of the atonement literature, satisfaction is associated almost exclusively with Anselm. It is presented as the hallmark of his “theory” that distinguishes it from competitors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Peter Abelard, the Reformers, and Hugo Grotius are all said to have different theories of atonement, yet they all describe the suffering and death of Jesus as a work of satisfaction. Prior to the nineteenth century, Socinians and Unitarians were the only ones who rejected a satisfaction account of atonement. The major confessions and catechisms of both the ..read more