HowardPepper

Although I've been contributing articles for some time to the PC.org resources section, I'd not come to the forums until the other day.... I see this thread has gone dormant for a couple months, but in case someone looks in and gets this far, I thought I'd mention a resource on the Net that may be fairly hidden... one which has LOTS on the modern (and earlier) evangelical ideas about Christ dying for our sins. Before I point you there with a link, the interesting, and partly sad, background story: It is a blog that was written and run by a wonderful man who had become a long-distance friend of mine (and many others), Ken Pulliam. He died suddenly of a heart attack, at just 51 or so, about late Oct., 2010. If you notice, there are some Nov., 2010 posts which went up actually after his death via his automated posting, and somewhere also a bit of discussion from his surviving wife and us blog readers/commenters. I'm thankful the blog has stayed up, though no longer attended, apparently. You can read Ken's story there... he was a brilliant thinker, academic, teacher, and had been a "former fundy" for quite a few years. The main point for THIS discussion topic is that Ken had a near-obsession with the issue of atonement theory, seeing it as the definite center or pivot-point for traditional (orthodox) Christian theology. What he calls by the theological name of "penal substitutionary atonement" is the most common thing in the mind of most pastors, Bible teachers, etc. when they refer to "Christ dying for our sins (or "sin", referring to "original sin"). He'd said he was working on a book on the subject which I presume will never be published as such, although there is enough material he'd already amassed on his site to probably produce a good one.... I certainly haven't read all of it, or even close. Most people wouldn't. But it's nice to have it there as a resource, as it is a place one CAN point a theologically trained person who may be open or have his/her own questions about what they've been taught or what other pastors, etc. are thinking (most of them, as has been pointed out... are NOT thinking through it or researching it in the Bible very deeply, as I was not while a minister, teacher, apologist for many years in evangelical circles myself). So here is the link, directing you to this specific topic among the many, many Ken covered in the relatively short time he had the blog (you can explore within the blog from there): http://formerfundy.blogspot.com/search/label/Penal%20Substitutionary%20Theory