This image is the cover for the book Approaching the Atonement

Approaching the Atonement

In many ways, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross stands at the heart of the Christian faith.

But how should we understand the theological significance of Christ's death? Should we limit our doctrine of the atonement to the cross, or is Christ's work more expansive than that? How should we account for the violence of this event?

Theologian Oliver Crisp explores such questions around the meaning of the cross and the various ways that the death of Jesus has been interpreted in the church's history—from ransom theory in the early church to penal substitutionary theory to more recent feminist critiques. What emerges from this study is a more complex, expansive, and fruitful understanding of the atonement and its significance for the Christian faith today.

Oliver D. Crisp

Oliver D. Crisp (PhD, University of London, DLitt, University of Aberdeen) is professor of analytic theology at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of several books, including Analyzing Doctrine: Toward a Systematic Theology, Saving Calvinism: Expanding the Reformed Tradition, Jonathan Edwards Among the Theologians, and The Word Enfleshed: Exploring the Person and Work of Christ. He is a founding editor of the Journal of Analytic Theology, and co-organizes the annual Los Angeles Theology Conference with Fred Sanders.

InterVarsity Press