Postkiwi Duncan Macleod

Colin Gunton, Professor of Christian Doctrine at King’s College London until his death in 2003, published “The Actuality of Atonement: A Study of Metaphor, Rationality and the Christian Tradition” in 1988.

Gunton sets out to challenge the rationalist approaches to doctrines of atonement provided by Kant, Schleirmacher and Hegel. He describes Kant’s approach as rationalism of the moral agent, an approach which totally reverses traditional atonement doctrine to focus on the redemption achieved through the re-activation of the innate powers of the moral will. Schleirmacher’s rationalism of experience has emasculated traditional doctrines of atonement, destroying their base in the historic redemptive action of God and producing a reductionist account of their language. Hegel, Gunton writes, approached the doctrine of atonement from a perspective of conceptual rationalism, undervaluing fuzzy concepts and metaphors.

Gunton moves on to explore the re-emergence of metaphor as an accepted component of philosophical and theological dialogue. He looks at the way in which metaphor has been linked with rhetoric and ornament as opposed to argument, truth and literal description. Philosophy of science in recent years has moved away from this dichotomy, providing for metaphor as the vehicle of discovery. Metaphor, despite the concerns of the Enlightenment, is a pervasive part of language that can be used to speak about the real world. Metaphor, as an engagement with the world, must be used with imagination and modesty.

The Battlefield and the Demons

Gunton considers the claims of Swedish theologian Gustav Aulen in his 1931 book, “Christus Victor”, that the early church’s focus on the victory of Christ on the cross had been lost in favour of the notion of satisfaction. The metaphor of ‘victory over demonic power’ has been rejected by many theologians largely because of difficulty in engaging with the literal or associated meanings. As Gunton looks through the Old and New Testaments he comes to the conclusion that the texts “present us not with superhuman hypostases trotting about the world, but with the metaphorical characterisation of moral and cosmic realities which would otherwise defy expression.” He draws on contemporary writers to draw out the theme of subjection of individuals and societies to forces beyond their control. Jesus, by refusing any other means of success than the genuinely human, reveals deceptive idolatry in all its forms to be ‘demonic’. Understanding the history of Jesus as a victory clears the way for a new vision of the world in which God is involved in all aspects of creation.

The Justice of God: A Conversation

Gunton uses the atonement metaphor of satisfaction as developed by Anselm of Canterbury to explore the range of interpretations of metaphor in different contexts of time and place. He begins by pointing out that the legal metaphor was linked to the Christus Victor motif and was hinted at by early theologians such as Cyprian. The concept of justice, held by Anselm and his peers was different to that of the Hebrew scriptures. God becomes the cosmic overlord responsible for universal justice. The Hebrew Scriptures however place the law as a gift provided for the sustenance of God’s people and the maintenance of covenantal relationship. Anselm himself points out that atonement as satisfaction is not a legal transaction, but an act of unmerited grace.

Having briefly looked at Anselm’s approach to doctrine, Gunton moves on to the conversation made possible as successive generations have engaged in the justice metaphor with evolving understandings of law, including the extremes of inward-looking individualist piety and merciless domination in the name of a punishing God. These distortions are dealt with by Gunton in the context of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Gunton concludes this section with a consideration of twentieth century treatments of the justice metaphor by Forsyth and Barth. It is clear to Gunton that the justice metaphor is a pliable and living stimulus for conversation, rooted in real-life history and society.

It would have been interesting to see how Gunton would have approached the way this metaphor has been played out in the context of liberation theology, feminist theology and other such conversations.

Christ the Sacrifice: A Dead Metaphor?

Gunton begins by acknowledging the sentiment that the sacrifice metaphor has run its course due to the repugnance with which it is viewed today. He reminds the reader that even in the Greek and Hebrew contexts sacrifice means different things to different people in different contexts. The description of the life and death of Jesus as a sacrifice is treated by Gunton as an example of transfer of meaning. The Old Testament concept of slaughter and prayer together is moralised in the time of Jesus to focus on a gift of life outside the bounds of the usual temple context. The call to join in the sacrificial life of Jesus leads to a re-thinking of the metaphor beyond dying to an intentional offering of prayerful life to God.

Objections to the transactional nature of the sacrifice metaphor are explored in the consideration of Edward Irving’s nineteenth century christology. Irving rejects a stock exchange approach to divinity along with mathematical quantitative theology of sin. Irving taught that the sacrifice offered by Jesus was to live in the context of humanity affected by a relational sinfulness and randomness, prone to suffering and limitation like us. The Holy Spirit living in Jesus brought about the atonement in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus alike. Irving develops Calvin’s theology of the priesthood of Christ in both a human and cosmic context.

Gunton concludes that even though the metaphor of sacrifice has been trivialised and misused, tainted with punitive overtones for example, theologians such as Irving show us that the supposedly dead metaphor can open life-giving approaches to the doctrine of atonement.

Atonement, the Triune God, and the Community of Reconciliation

Gunton goes on to explore the relational dimension of atonement found in the triune God’s interaction with creation and lived out in the community of the people of Christ.

For further resources on Colin Gunton’s theology, see the Colin Gunton Research Discussion Blog.