The patristic roots of satisfaction atonement theories: did the church fathers affirm only "Christus Victor?"

In his work Christus Victor, Gustaf Aulén argued that Anselm of Canterbury’s account of the atonement was foreign to ancient Christian belief. In particular, Aulén argued that Anselm diverged from the original understanding of the doctrine as presented by the church fathers. Aulén argued that the Ea...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Meyer, James David (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Tyndale House [2021]
In: Tyndale bulletin
Year: 2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 2, Pages: 293-319
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Aulén, Gustaf 1879-1977, Den Kristna försoningstanken / Anselm, Canterbury, Erzbischof, Heiliger 1033-1109 / Atoning death / Satisfaction
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
NBF Christology
Parallel Edition:Electronic
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Summary:In his work Christus Victor, Gustaf Aulén argued that Anselm of Canterbury’s account of the atonement was foreign to ancient Christian belief. In particular, Aulén argued that Anselm diverged from the original understanding of the doctrine as presented by the church fathers. Aulén argued that the Eastern church rightly endorsed a model of the atonement that he called the ‘classic view’, while Anselm in the West later wrongly developed a theory of satisfaction that Aulén called the ‘Latin’ view. This critique, by extension, applies to other ‘Anselmic’ theories of atonement such as penal substitution that, like Anselm’s, also affirm that Christ’s death in some way satisfied God’s requirements in response to human sin. Patristic literature shows, however, that Aulén’s conclusion is more imposition than exposition. Fathers from both East and West commonly advanced theories that comport well with what Aulén called the Latin view alongside Christus Victor.
ISSN:0082-7118
Contains:Enthalten in: Tyndale bulletin