“There is perhaps no greater tragic irony than the scene that was surely played out at numerous black lynchings when both the lynchers and the lynched ostensibly cried out to the same God, the God of Jesus Christ.”
Introduction
In her book The Very Good Gospel, Lisa Sharon Harper describes the moment she stood in the Martin Luther King Center, staring at propaganda paintings from the Southern confederacy that featured scenes of happy, well-dressed slaves. She realized that many of the most atrocious acts in the history of the United States happened in the Bible belt, by “people who claimed to believe in Jesus and the power of the Cross for salvation. How could they believe the gospel and do this?” It is naive and far too convenient for Christians to claim that slavery and genocide are things of the past, committed by individuals who were simply “people of their time.” Christianity both enforced and absolved these crimes against humanity. Denial of this has led to a resurgence in white supremacy and Christian nationalism, as was evidenced by the prominence of the confederate flag during the recent attack on the US Capitol building.
The White church has historically been complicit in violence against marginalized communities, either by its silence or its active participation. If the church is to have any role in establishing justice for these communities, we must examine the role doctrine has played in allowing such egregious abuse to flourish. While many doctrines have undoubtedly contributed to ideologies that impose suffering on humanity, this paper will focus on several troubling aspects of the most commonly accepted atonement theory, penal substitutionary atonement.
What We Believe Matters
Systematic theology is the narrative term for the building blocks of doctrine that show us what God is like, and how God intervenes in human history. 3 These beliefs play an enormous part in how we see the world, and by extension, how we treat others. Many theologians, particularly womanists, feminists, and pacifists, have offered alternative theories for the theological implications of the cross. 4 The purpose of this paper, however, is not to offer a solution to the complex and problematic doctrines that make up our understanding of the gospel. Rather, it is an examination of one commonly held theory, penal substitutionary atonement, and how it has contributed to oppression.
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