What Does the Death of Jesus Mean?

Reclaiming the Garden

In this episode, we go through one of April’s papers she wrote in grad school. We explore perspectives on Jesus’ death and on corresponding atonement theories (or lack thereof) from Black, feminist, and womanist theologians to work towards a non-violent, liberative Christology of the cross. April wrote this for all the people who have been harmed by the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement theory (that on the cross, God's wrath was placed on Jesus in our place as a way to atone for our sins), and its often complementary belief that our suffering in this life is redemptive or caused by God ("just like Jesus’"). We reject this view of a child-abuser god and put forth ways in which we can see the cross as a call to solidarity with the marginalized, as an example of the evil that empire can do, and how God's response to the crucifixion (resurrection, not more violence) is a Divine proclamation that God does not desire for us to suffer, but to flourish.

Bibliography:

Cone, James. The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2011.

Copeland, M. Shawn. Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African-American Religious Experience. New York: Orbis Books, 2018.

Douglas, Kelly Brown. Stand Your Ground; Black Bodies and the Justice of God. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2015.

Evans, Rachel Held. “We argue over metaphors…” rachelheldevans.com. April 22, 2011. https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/cross-argue-metaphors?rq=metaphor

Mennenga, Mason (@masonmennenga). “My only atonement theory is a rejection of atonement theories altogether. Because of my reading of Delores Williams, the *only* theological meaning I can…” Twitter. February 7, 2020, 11:35 AM. https://twitter.com/masonmennenga/status/1225865668354027520

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “Suffering and Redemption.” In Introducing Redemption in Christian Feminism. Introductions in Feminist Theology. Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 1998.

Williams, Delores. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2013.

Young, Frances. Construing the Cross: Type, Sign, Symbol, Word, Action. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2015.

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