tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-118688459222979984.post2483639089193293041..comments2023-08-25T16:10:39.880+01:00Comments on the dance of the elements: One more reason why I'm a PaganYewtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02028699564003381058noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-118688459222979984.post-22392541358690144912010-04-12T14:54:23.002+01:002010-04-12T14:54:23.002+01:00Penal substitution (also known as vicarious atonem...Penal substitution (also known as vicarious atonement) theology was invented by Anselm of Canterbury in the 9th century. It holds that God is very angry with humanity for its sins, and requires satisfaction (in the form of sending everyone to hell). So, instead, God sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross as a substitute sacrifice. It turns God into a vengeful God. (This is the nastiest form of this theology – others have come up with less unpleasant variations.)<br /><br />The alternative offered by Eastern Orthodox Christianity is Christus Victor theology. This is the idea that we are all imprisoned by sin, and that death is the ultimate form of that. As Jesus was one with God, he “trampled down death by death” as the Orthodox liturgy says: he literally couldn’t die, because he is God. So he went down into hell where the dead were, and burst their prison asunder and freed them. Thus his death, descent and resurrection are all equally important to Eastern Orthodox Christians.<br /><br />A third possibility is to regard the whole story as mythology along the lines of other dying-and-resurrecting Middle Eastern vegetation gods (this is my own position). This does not make the story any less valid; it just sets it in the context of other similar mythology and allows us to experience it as the death of the ego and the resurrection of the larger self as we turn towards the Divine in the experience of metanoia. I recommend the excellent book <em>The Man they called the Christ</em> by David Doel, which explores this idea.Yewtreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02028699564003381058noreply@blogger.com