#christus victor fucks

[theancientfootsteps]

being on this website means constantly being tempted by pride

the new post button calls me, whispers seductively that I should post all my hot takes on atonement theories, even though I have literally been a Christian for less than a month and know almost nothing about anything

[gayleviticus]

There’s a lot of negative feeling about the penal substitutionary atonement model of the crucifixion (that Jesus chose to take the punishment humanity were due), especially among progressive circles, and I think there are a lot of valid criticisms of it: it’s often framed very barbarically, it can pit Jesus against the Father, it can over-emphasise the sinfulness of human beings and over-literalises ‘the wrath of God’ in a way that makes God seem like deep down he hates us but begrudgingly chooses forgiveness instead.

But there are at least 3 redeeming features I think this motif can have, provided it’s not understood as the rigid be-all-and-end-all it often is.

1) Whatever way you slice it, whatever alternative lens you want to use, even if Jesus’ death wasn’t ‘penal substitutionary atonement’, it was still probably penal (he died horribly as ‘punishment’ by the Romans), it was still substitutionary (in the sense it was to save human beings from death), and it was still atonement (it had some kind of salvific effect). I find it hard to get too precious about PSA when the broad elements are all there in the other classic theories of atonement. At its core the cross is a scandal because it’s about God wrenching resurrection and hope out of a violent and horrific death; I feel like some criticisms of PSA in favour of Christus Victor etc are just trying to de-scandalise an inherently scandalous concept.

2) In a twisted sense I think the horrifying nature of PSA supplements the horrifying nature of being crucified to death very well – and mistake PSA advocates often make is that they not only miss this but try to frame it as the only truly just solution. PSA advocates will say that Jesus’ death was necessary for God to maintain his mercy alongside his justice; he has to punish someone for humanity’s sins, so Jesus steps up to take his place. And rather than this becoming another fucked up thing about the situation, about the depths of horror happening in the crucifixion, PSA advocates frame this as a mark of divine justice. God is so merciful he gave Hitler a stay of mercy and then because he’s so just let Mother Teresa get executed in his place. The very concept of Justice becomes extremely muddled.

When PSA becomes a commentary on the nature of what justice is and what mercy is and how to satisfy both, I think it becomes extremely muddled. But what I think is valuable about PSA is this idea of God taking upon himself a punishment he didn’t deserve for the sake of human beings and hence destroying the very notion of ‘deserved’ punishment. Ideas that woe is a punishment for sin and happiness a reward for virtue are destroyed by the crucifixion of God.

3) I think it allows us to reinterpret a lot of the judgment and violence God promises or enacts throughout the Bible (including the OT, yes, but let’s not forget Revelation as well). All those punishments God threatens or dishes out? All that wrath he pours out in plagues and famines and destroying angels? He took it upon himself. God doesn’t dish out what he can’t take; and indeed, he’s not just willing to take it, but to take it so we don’t have to. He is the Judge judged in our place.

There’s an article by the Catholic priest and theologian James Allison (https://jamesalison.com/creation-fulfilled-and-the-book-of-revelation/) where he makes the interesting suggestion that the point of the extreme divine violence in the Book of Revelation is to convey this idea that the wrath of God is ‘exhausted’. Rather than just saying ‘oh well God doesn’t punish people after all,’ the author has God throw absolutely everything at the wall to show God ‘getting it out of his system’. All the promised curses of Deuteronomy are finally fulfilled, and thus exhausted, and beyond this cataclysmic judgment lies mercy and restoration.

Now, Allison writes about Revelation, not the crucifixion, and ironically does so from a Girardian perspective that is much closer to ‘moral influence theory of atonement’ where Jesus’ death exposes the unethical systems that undergird our societies. Allison is not endorsing PSA.

But I think PSA can convey a similar kind of idea to what he’s talking about here. The judgment of the world has taken place, and it took place on the cross; the much-feared wrath of God has been exhausted.

Now, I don’t know that this necessarily means all talk of wrath is defused – as I’ve said before, there can be much value to notions of divine judgment (which =/= eternal conscious torment in hell) as a cleansing of injustice and oppression. But at the very least we cannot read biblical threats of future judgment and wrath without a serious detour by the foot of the cross.

[galarian-weezing-on-prep]

i just assume that gerwig will be de-christianizing narnia and like that's fine. art is art, she can do what she wants, even if it sucks lol

she'll either pull a secularization or she'll pull a gnosticism and i will support her freedom to do so

but like

half the fun of narnia is that clive staples was a believer in the ransom theory of atonement, which had not been popular since the actual fucking dark ages

man really said humankind was ransomed from the devil by trickery and here is a talking lion and a white woman to demonstrate that

he singlehandedly tried to make ransom theory popular again by thumbing his nose at his christus victor theory of atonement loving bestie john ronald reuel

give us ransom theory aslan and christus victor aragorn or else it's boring tbh

[skelegun]

I just watched the film 'Ready Or Not" earlier today, a film which prior to today I had never heard of and only saw because I had 2 hours to kill, didn't feel like going home, and nothing else was playing. Now keep in mind I will be spoiling the film, but also keep in mind before seeing it all I knew of the plot was the little blurb on theatre's website and I was able to accurately guess most of the plot before the opening credits were over.

The film begins with two boys fleeing down a hallway in a mansion, a bloodied man in a tuxedo appears begging one of the boys for help, the boy however screams and betrays the man, and several masked figures in formal wear appear brandishing weapons and carry the injured man off, while a woman in a wedding dress cries and pleads with the masked assailants.

The story picks up 30 years later. Grace, the protagonist, is a woman of low birth and a troubled past about to marry into the Le Domas dynasty, which made it's fortune selling playing cards and boards games. There is only one stipulation... Ever since their family mysteriously struck it rich, anytime someone marries into the family they must play a randomly selected game at midnight on their wedding night... Or Else. Grace of course ends with the misfortune of drawing the only bad card, the one labeled "Hide And Seek". Now the rest of family must hunt her down and capture her alive before sun rise.

I'll get the bad out of the way first. Let me just say that my opinion of this movie is this, this is largely unremarkable movie that I had to look up the title to when I went to write this because I had already forgotten it. It's a horror comedy which is thankfully leans towards the horror side, because most of the jokes aren't funny. They aren't bad per say, it just feels like much of the humor was tacked on because the movie wasn't sure of what tone or direction it wanted to go. Also the acting ranges from forgettable to bad, I didnt recognize any of the actors and that is probably why.

Now for the good. There were two aspects of this movie I really liked, and this where the spoilers come in. The first is that this isn't really a "gleeful rich people hunting poor people for sport" movie which it has been billed as. The family hunts only end up happening every few decades, and these hunts have deep psychological toll on those who participate in them, and no one is even quite sure what will happen should they fail to deliver the sacrifice before sun rise. So as a result the various family members all have varying levels of enthusiasm, ranging from coked out over exuberance, to covert sabotagely the hunt. Overall the family is really incompetent at human hunting as would be expected of a bunch of decadent dilettantes.

The other aspect I really enjoyed was the reveal at towards end. Spoilers but it turns out they were Satanists. I predicted this during the opening credits when they imply that the company's wealth sprang from a Devil themed boardgame in the opening credits, what surprised me was how they followed through on it. Because predictably Grace survives the night, and the sun rises. At first nothing happens, and surviving members of the family just stand there befuddled. Was all that Satan stuff just bull shit? What do they do now that Grace is cornered and half the family is dead because of her? Well as one of the aunts prepares to attack Grace, she suddenly fucking explodes. Then another family member explodes. They all one by one explode in great fountains of gore.

That I was not expecting. I was fully expecting it to just be a cynical "these rich people are just dumb, hur during tradition is fake religion don't real" ending, but nope the rich people were in league with The Devil, and the only thing that could stop them was "Grace"! Christus Victor! The patriarch of the family also mentions at one point that there was another rich family that died and one of the family members says "I thought that was a house fire" and the dad implies that that was just a cover up. Hmm rich people in league with the Satan dying under mysterious circumstance that get covered up... Really gets the noggin joggin doesn't it, really activates the almonds huh, big think time here lads.

Anyways it was a fairly enjoyable movie that I liked the ending of but the rest was pretty forgettable. It is probably the best "evil rich people" movie I've seen in a long time. This film looks like Citizen Kane compared to The Purge 3: Election Day, that's for damn sure. However compared to Mid Sommar which was another "blonde woman with a troubled past and a shitty boyfriend gets involved with a weird cult" movie I saw recently this film pales in comparison.