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- Title
From Satisfaction to Penal Substitution: Debt as a Determinative Concept for Atonement Theology in Anselm and Charles Hodge.
- Authors
Sutherland, Andrew
- Abstract
It is commonplace among theologians to identify Anselm's satisfaction theory of atonement as a progenitor of the penal substitution theory (PST) of atonement common in certain strands of Reformed theology. Some scholars have suggested PST emerged when Reformed thinkers adapted Anselm's theory to fit a concept of justice derived from modern criminal justice systems. Though PST certainly depends on a particular, retributive conception of justice, I argue that a new conception of debt is also necessary for the shift from satisfaction to penal substitution to occur. The argument proceeds in three parts. First, I briefly outline the distinction common in anthropology between commercial debt and symbolic debt to provide a backdrop for the study. Second, I unpack and characterize the conceptions of debt in Anselm's Cur Deus Homo and in the Systematic Theology of Charles Hodge, a staunch supporter of PST. Finally, I examine the impact these different conceptions of debt have on the formation of their respective atonement theologies, arguing that the logic of commercial debt plays an essential role in the development of Hodge's penal substitution theory of atonement.
- Subjects
HODGE, Charles, 1797-1878; NATURAL theology; CHRISTIAN Science; BEAUTY of God; CUR Deus Homo (Book)
- Publication
Saint Anselm Journal, 2017, Vol 13, Issue 1, p98
- ISSN
2689-6230
- Publication type
Article