Rethinking the Atonement

M. Moffitt David

Description

Traditional views of the atonement tend to be reductive, focusing solely on Jesus's death on the cross. In his 2011 groundbreaking book Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews, David Moffitt challenged that paradigm, showing how the atonement is a fuller process. It involves not only Jesus's death but also his resurrection, ascension, offering, and exaltation.In the succeeding years, Moffitt has continued to expand and clarify his thinking on this issue. This book offers a more fulsome articulation of his work on the atonement that reflects his recent thinking on the topic. Moffitt continues to challenge reductive views of the atonement, primarily from the book of Hebrews, but he engages other New Testament passages as well. He offers fresh insights on sacrifice and atonement, the importance of resurrection and ascension, Jesus's role as priest, and a new perspective on Hebrews.This important book brings Moffitt's award-winning and influential scholarship to a broader audience. The book includes a foreword by N. T. Wright.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493440955
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Endorsements
“Rarely does a new body of scholarship come along that compels us to rethink what we thought we knew about the New Testament. Moffitt’s work on the Letter to the Hebrews is exactly that sort of game-changing intervention. This new collection of deeply researched essays builds upon and persuasively amplifies his earlier interpretations of resurrection and atonement in Hebrews, while also illuminating the theology of other New Testament documents. For those whose faculties have been trained by practice to recognize serious and illuminating exegesis, this book is not milk but solid food.”
— Richard B. Hays , Duke University (emeritus)
“A new publication by David Moffitt is always a treat. This book brings together a number of seminal essays in which Moffitt applies his precise and illuminating analysis of the biblical logic of sacrifice to Hebrews and other NT texts. Using a combination of exegetical rigor and theological insight, Moffitt makes a compelling and urgent case for re-examining the saving significance of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension (as well as his death) within the biblical understanding of atonement. This volume will be indispensable for the study of Hebrews, and it should be foundational for the development of atonement theology.”
— Loveday Alexander , University of Sheffield (emerita)
“From the author who has revolutionized Hebrews’ studies, Rethinking the Atonement presents in one place many of David Moffitt’s exegetical arguments. Readers are challenged to recover a holistic affirmation of God’s work in Christ: incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and session. Moffitt has changed not only how I read Hebrews but how I conceive of my faith. I’m eager to put this volume into the hands of my students and parishioners.”
— Amy Peeler , Wheaton College
“Moffitt argues compellingly that while Jesus’s death on a cross completes the earthly work of salvation, his priestly work in heaven continues, and this too is part of his saving, and atoning, work. This collection of essays is not simply a rethinking but a Copernican Revolution in atonement theology, both because it concerns the movement of a celestial body (the risen and ascended Jesus Christ) and because it calls for a reversal of some traditional soteriological polarities.”
— Kevin J. Vanhoozer , Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“ Rethinking the Atonement represents rigorous, in-depth biblical scholarship of the highest order. It is not merely original; it promises to be no less than field changing. That is because it will no longer be possible to write on the atonement, let alone Christology, without engaging in detail with the exegetical arguments that Moffitt presents. What is most exciting, however, is not simply the lucid way in which he demonstrates that widely held assumptions about the atonement are deeply flawed but that he does this in a way that brings the gospel alive. This is one of those rare books in biblical scholarship that should be compulsory reading not only for biblical scholars but also for academic theologians, students, and pastors alike. I cannot recommend this remarkable volume highly enough!”
— Alan J. Torrance , University of St. Andrews (emeritus)
“This is a spectacular set of essays from one of the greatest living New Testament scholars—David Moffitt. This collection provides a convenient and affordable anthology of some of his most influential work. For those who are unfamiliar with Moffitt, this is your chance to remedy that, and for those who are familiar, this is your chance to have some of his most influential work readily available.”
— Madison N. Pierce , Western Theological Seminary
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2022 by David M. Moffitt
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-4095-5
Chapter 2 was originally published in a similar form as “Modelled on Moses: Jesus’ Death, Passover, and the Defeat of the Devil in the Epistle to the Hebrews.” In Mosebilder: Gedanken zur Rezeption einer literarischen Figur im Frühjudentum, frühen Christentum und der römisch-hellenistischen Literatur , ed. Michael Sommer et al., 279–97. WUNT 1/390. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017. Used by permission.
Chapter 3 was originally published in a similar form as “Wilderness Identity and Pentateuchal Narrative: Distinguishing between Jesus’ Inauguration and Maintenance of the New Covenant in Hebrews.” In Muted Voices of the New Testament: Readings in the Catholic Epistles and Hebrews , ed. Katherine M. Hockey, Madison N. Pierce, and Francis Watson, 153–71. LNTS 565. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017. Used by permission.
Chapter 5 was originally published in a similar form as “‘If Another Priest Arises’: Jesus’ Resurrection and the High Priestly Christology of Hebrews.” In A Cloud of Witnesses: The Theology of Hebrews in Its Ancient Contexts , ed. Richard Bauckham et al., 68–79. LNTS 387. London: T&T Clark, 2008. Used by permission.
Chapter 6 was originally published in a similar form as “Blood, Life, and Atonement: Reassessing Hebrews’ Christological Appropriation of Yom Kippur.” In The Day of Atonement: Its Interpretations in Early Jewish and Christian Traditions , ed. Thomas Hieke and Tobias Nicklas, 211–24. Themes in Biblical Narrative Series 15. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Used by permission.
Chapter 7 was originally published in a similar form as “Weak and Useless? Purity, the Mosaic Law, and Perfection in Hebrews.” In Law and Lawlessness in Early Judaism and Early Christianity , ed. David Lincicum, Ruth Sheridan, and Charles M. Stang, 87–101. WUNT 1/420. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019. Used by permission.
Chapter 8 was originally published in a similar form as “Serving in the Tabernacle in Heaven: Sacred Space, Jesus’s High-Priestly Sacrifice, and Hebrews’ Analogical Theology.” In Hebrews in Contexts , ed. Gabriella Gelardini and Harold W. Attridge, 259–79. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 91. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Used by permission.
Chapter 9 was originally published in a similar form as “It Is Not Finished: Jesus’ Perpetual Atoning Work as the Heavenly High Priest in Hebrews.” In So Great a Salvation: A Dialogue on the Atonement in Hebrews , ed. Jon Laansma, George H. Guthrie, and Cynthia Long Westfall, 157–75. LNTS 516. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019. Used by permission.
Chapter 11 was originally published in a similar form as “Jesus’ Heavenly Sacrifice in Early Christian Reception of Hebrews: A Survey.” JTS 68 (2017): 46–71. Used by permission.
Chapter 12 was originally published in a similar form as “Righteous Bloodshed, Matthew’s Passion Narrative and the Temple’s Destruction: Lamentations as a Matthean Intertext.” Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (2006): 299–320. Used by permission.
Chapter 13 was originally published in a similar form as “The Sign of Jonah and the Prophet Motif in the Gospel of Matthew: Moving toward the Gentile Mission.” In How Jonah Is Interpreted in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Essays on the Authenticity and Influence of the Biblical Prophet , ed. Mishael Caspi and John T. Greene, 233–45. Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 2011. Used by permission.
Chapter 14 was originally published in a similar form as “Atonement at the Right Hand: Exploring the Sacrificial Significance of Jesus’ Exaltation in Acts.” NTS 62 (2016): 549–68. Used by permission.
Chapter 15 was originally published in a similar form as “Affirming the ‘Creed’: The Extent of Paul’s Citation of an Early Christian Formula in 1 Cor 15,3b–7.” ZNW 99 (2008): 49–73. Used by permission.
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Dedication
To my parents, who showed me the way and, by their example, taught me to walk in it
Contents
Cover
Endorsements i
Half Title Page iii
Title Page v
Copyright Page vi
Dedication vii
Abbreviations xi
Foreword by N. T. Wright xv
1. Rethinking the Atonement: An Introduction 1
2. Modeled on Moses: Jesus’s Death, Passover, and the Defeat of the Devil in the Epistle to the Hebrews 9
3. Wilderness Identity and Pentateuchal Narrative: Distinguishing between Jesus’s Inauguration and Maintenance of the New Covenant in Hebrews 29
4. Isaiah 53, Hebrews, and Covenant Renewal 47
5. “If Another Priest Arises”: Jesus’s Resurrection and the High-Priestly Christology of Hebrews 73
6. Blood, Life, and Atonement: Reassessing Hebrews’ Christological Appropriation of Yom Kippur 87
7. Weak and Useless? Purity, the Mosaic Law, and Perfection in Hebrews 101
8. Serving in the Tabernacle in Heaven: Sacred Space, Jesus’s High-Priestly Sacrifice, and Hebrews’ Analogical Theology 117
9. It Is Not Finished: Jesus’s Perpetual Atoning Work as the Heavenly High Priest in Hebrews 135
10. Observations on Directional Features of the Incarnation and Jesus’s Sacrifice in Hebrews 159
11. Jesus’s Heavenly Sacrifice in Early Christian Reception of Hebrews: A Survey 181
12. Righteous Bloodshed, Matthew’s Passion Narrative, and the Temple’s Destruction: Lamentations as a Matthean Intertext 205
13. The Sign of Jonah and the Prophet Motif in the Gospel of Matthew: Moving toward the Gentile Mission 229
14. Atonement at the Right Hand: The Sacrificial Significance of Jesus’s Exaltation in Acts 241
15. Affirming the “Creed”: The Extent of Paul’s Citation of an Early Christian Formula in 1 Corinthians 15:3b–7 261
Author Index 289
Scripture and Ancient W