Reddit reviews Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross

Here's a good book that explores these concepts: http://www.amazon.com/Saved-Sacrifice-A-Theology-Cross/dp/0802832156

And an overview of the book: http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2007/01/voice-of-scapegoat-series.html

Fair witness: this line of thinking is in part a response to and denunciation of Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

If you're really interested, read something sensible on the topic, e.g., https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saved-Sacrifice-Theology-S-Mark-Heim/dp/0802832156

> Daniel L. Migliore
>
>Princeton Theological Seminary
>
>"Drawing extensively from Rene Girard's analysis of the scapegoat mechanism, Mark Heim has written a not-to-be-missed work on the unmasking of sacrificial violence by the biblical witness. He offers stunning interpretations of Old and New Testament texts as he marshals his argument that the event of the cross narrated in the Gospels is universally significant not because it repeats the deadly cycle of sacrifice present in all societies and in all religious ritual and myth but because it reverses this cycle and rescues us from the practice of scapegoating sacrifice and the violence it both hides and perpetuates. This is a theology of the cross in a bold new key."

Silouan, have you checked out Saved from Sacrifice? I just picked it up and haven't had a chance to go through it yet, but I hear good things. Anyway, from what I can tell, it does a lot of exploration into what you are bringing up here.

If you were actually interested in an answer to this question, this is a great book on the topic: "Saved from Sacrifice" http://www.amazon.com/Saved-Sacrifice-Theology-Mark-Heim/dp/0802832156.

From a review: "[He presents the Crucifixion as the ultimate result of the human scapegoating tendency and how Jesus, by his resurrection, broke the cycle of violence and sacrifice and gave mankind a model of forgiveness available to perpetrators and victims alike." It's actually pretty fascinating to learn about the actual context of Christ's sacrifice and how completely different a thing it is in the lens of the era Christ lived in, and in general how revolutionary his teachings were.