John the Baptist, Christus Victor, and Beauty


Abstract:
She can't be like sunrise over a still lake if she walks in beauty like the night."

Body:
I'm plowing through several books at the moment:

John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition by Walter Wink. I've read some of Wink's other stuff, like The Powers that Be. I think he has a refreshing and credible view of social and demonic forces, which fits very well with

Christus Victor by Gustaf Aulén. Since I've been interested in alternatives to Anselmian atonement theory, I figured it was time to read Christus Victor instead of just talking about it all the time. Ahem. Seriously, getting some distance from Anselm has helped me appreciate the concept of substitution and juridical theology a little bit better. It still irritates me that people will latch on to a crystallized metaphor and use it as a shibboleth - but I suppose that tends to be the human way. For me, substitutionary atonement is a much more beautiful metaphor if I also have other ways of speaking of what Jesus Christ accomplished. Otherwise, theological conversations tend to go like this:

"Three years she grew in sun and shower..."
"No she didn't!"
"What do you mean?"
"As it is written: she walks in beauty like the night. She can't have grown in sun and shower if she walks in beauty like the night."
"But she's also like sunrise over a still lake."
"Like the night!"
"Can we bracket the night for a few min..."
"Heretic!"

I'm also working on On Beauty and Being Just, which would be a quick read if it were not so beautifully written. It is like a rich red velvet cake - you have to eat it slowly. It wants a tall glass of cold milk to wash it down.

Posted: Fri - February 23, 2007 at 06:57 AM           |

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