The Nonviolent Atonement

Cutting right to the very heart of Christian thought, The Nonviolent Atonement challenges the traditional, Anselmian understanding of atonement -- along with the assumption that heavenly justice depends on Christ's passive, innocent submission to violent death at the hands of a cruel God. Instead, J. Denny Weaver offers a thoroughly nonviolent paradigm for understanding atonement, grounded in the New Testament and sensitive to the concerns of pacifist, black, feminist, and womanist theology.

While many scholars have engaged the subject of violence in atonement theology, Weaver's Nonviolent Atonement avoids simply refurbishing existing theories. Key features of this revised and updated second edition include new material on Paul and Anselm, expanded discussion on the development of violence in theology, interaction with recent scholarship on atonement, and response to criticisms of Weaver's original work.