|
|
Article: Christ crucified.
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- March 7, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Why does Jesus' death matter?
WHY IS THE DEATH of Christ significant? Some of the church is sure it knows the answer, while much of the rest of the church is deeply uncomfortable with the question. The publicized comment by a feminist theologian at the "Re-imagining" conference a few years ago is only one example of the discomfort: "I don't think we need a theory of atonement at all. I don't think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff ..."
That statement sparked a lot of reflex outrage, which seemed to confirm that a very sore point had been touched--as if to say, "This is a painful topic, and we don't appreciate your ...