More on the Myth Of Redemptive Violence

It seemed clear from the discussion that a lot of issues surround the meaning of the death of Jesus.

Our reading material identifies several interpretation of Jesus' sacrifice. Those are:

"Satisfaction Theory: Derived from ancient Jewish ritual practices (including the Day of Atonement) where animals were sacrificed to satisfy God’s need for blood. Jesus becomes the ultimate sacrifice to appease a God who is so offended by human sin, that only the spilling of his own son’s blood will bring satisfaction. Incidentally, Canaanite religions were not the only ones to sacrifice their children to appease Baal and other gods. There are a number of Biblical examples of Judean kings and leaders who also ritually sacrificed their children, much to Yahweh’s displeasure.

Substitution Theory: The death of Jesus is NOT a sacrifice, but a pay-offxto God. Human beings are so sinful that each of us deserves a horrible lingering and bloody death sentence. However, Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to step in and be our substitute. God would just as soon kill us for our sins, but the slaughter of the innocent satiates the Divine’s
blood lust.

Ransom Theory: If through sin, humanity is now stuck in and operating on the Devil’s “turf,” God had to pay off Satan in order to win our freedom. How? By paying with Jesus’ death.

Victory Theory: NOT a payment to the devil (which is the equivalent of giving in to terrorists), but a defeat-in-principle of the power of evil. Through Jesus’ “obedience unto death,” he showed he could take anything that the Devil could dish out.

Moral Theory: Embraces the idea that the real point of Jesus’ obedience and death was to provide an example for humanity to follow – to stay faithful to one’s convictions even in the face of injustice, brutality, and ignorance. The universe is structured to deal with consequences – and
consequences are not punishment. They’re just consequences. Jesus had to deal with the consequences of his actions and so do we."