A Community Called Atonement
by Scot McKnight
$17.00
Abingdon Press

First things first, thisa book well worth reading in its entirety. Currently, in the publishing world, some authors write so much (and in McKnight's case, also blog so much) that their works begin to all blend together into a homogenized treatise that is one thesis spun out over and over again under different titles with slightly different perspectives but no new substance. Somehow, McKnight is one of those authors who can write on different topics with full force and break new ground instead of reverting back to his comfort zone. This book could have easily become Jesus Creed for Communities and no one would have batted an eyelash. This has become the quid pro quo of the publishing world. Thank God McKnight has decided to do something fresh and new by placing the theory of atonement into a missional framework and produce the foundational text of the Emergent Village Living Theology series. Hopefully this book will serve as a guide to the future authors in the series of how to bring Church history and multiple theological perspectives into a stirring conversation that leads to action, and not a comforting pat on the back.

Now to the book. McKnight's premise for the book is this---the theories of atonement put forth by the different sects and denominations of Christianity since its conception are grossly inadequate in breath and depth. Each theory lacks the vitality to be a doctrine unto itself, and this results in a fragmented view of Christ's work and action, and ultimately, of the incarnate Christ himself. Atonement is a major doctrine that affects the image of Christ we have, and in turn how we view the world and our purpose in it. As this is the first book in the Living Theology series, one of the objectives is how should we live what we know? McKnight offers a solution to the atonement debate with a redefining of atonement theories as atonement metaphors. These different ‘‘theories'' do not have to compete in the theological marketplace, but are instead strands of Christian thought that are not-whole without the other theories. These metaphors of atonement are the strings of different Christian authors---canonical writers, saints, and scholars---and when woven together form a mutually comprehensive rope of Christ's atonement. The metaphors of atonement---Christus Victor, satisfaction, ransom, penal, moral influence, etc. ---form a mosaic (he aptly uses the metaphor of a golf bag: you need a lot of clubs [read metaphors] in order to make to play the game effectively) of atonement that finally explains the depth of Christ's atoning work.

What can often happen in emergent circles is that in the reconciliation of theories a mosaic is formed and people become happy: we agree! McKnight asks the crucial question of any mosaic (one I have not asked of my own mosaic building and knowledge building): we have unity, now what? Too often the purpose of emergence is unity to ease our aching post-modern minds and not unity to further the kingdom of God. McKnight wisely leads us down the latter route, and stirs up some exciting and inspiring possibilities. If we are to be truly missional, McKnight surmises, we are to be a community of atonement within the world. The atoning act of Christ did not begin and end on Easter, it is a Spirit-driven ripple effect amongst the nations. As the community of Christ in the world, the Church, both universal and local, is the continuation of Christ's atoning work and thus atones the world through justice, fellowship, mission, living the story as the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. McKnight builds this argument in two ways, starting with the human as cracked Eikon. In this atonement mosaic, humans are eikons (images) of God that become cracked at the Fall. Christ's work reforms the clay of our cracked selves into a new creation, an uncracked eikon re-formed by Christ's atoning work. Missionally, what follows then is that we go out into the world as new creations and try to fix the cracks in others through service, justice, and love by being Christ to all. McKnight makes it clear that the atoning work of humans is not salvific but is still spiritual, we are the hands of God (Luther would say masks) working in the world, and through us God has an opportunity to atone salvifically in a person. McKnight steers away from any predestination/free-will battles and pushes toward the purpose of such actions and not the how. The second way McKnight builds his argument owes a lot to the New Perspective on Paul, and he gives some space and credit to Wright, Dunn, and Sanders in his book. McKnight could have called his book the New Perspective on Atonement, for he uses the tableau of the community found in the NPP and expands it to atonement. The community of God became the vehicle of justification in the NPP, and in McKnight's book it becomes the vehicle of atonement as well. God has chosen his people, the church, to be citizens of the kingdom while living in the world, and he works through us and alongside of us to change this world and atone for the Fall. The goal of Christian community is to build new creations out of cracked eikons, and to do so only through the mighty power of Christ's work on the cross. McKnight does not seek to shine a light on all the mysteries of atonement, and he offers several tangents that are introspective of the Christ-likeness us new creations are supposed to embody. The metaphors of atonement sometimes lead us to dark places, including viewing ourselves as a continual sacrifice to the world, which though it leads to much fruit may also lead to our suffering as Christ suffered as well.

One caveat with the book was its lack of emphasis on the Eucharist as a symbol of the church as a community of atonement. McKnight ties the atoning community to communion in the last chapter, but I found myself in several places underlining the word communion in the book and noting this would be a great place to talk about the Eucharist. However brief McKnight discusses it, his words are still valuable on the subject. The sacrament of communion reminds us every week (hopefully) that we are the atoning community of Christ in this world, that Christ is flesh and is our flesh, and that to live is Christ means we are to live even as Christ was/is/will be atonement, so that the Body of Christ, his church, may continue the wondrous atoning work of Christ on the cross. The cross and tomb are empty, Christ has saved the whole world, and we are the community who brings his work to the world.

This book does more than it has intended (to be the cornerstone of a living theology) because it also draws the reader into a conversation that is emerging not from the scholarly chalk dust of contemporary academics but from the marrow of atonement theories drawn out of Western and Eastern Christianity, and acknowledges that the mystery of the atonement that may continue to light dark places and fill the cracks of eikons throughout the entire world. Most importantly, this book paves the way of mosaics and metaphors with purpose, for it calls for a generous ortho-praxis---a movement beyond a generous grouping of doctrines to find unity and lets that unity fulfill its purpose of building a community anchored in atonement.