Well, Bill, there's apparently something new under the sun.

This view of the Atonement, we're going to be looking at, is called by some new theory

of Christ Atonement.

It's spelled out in a paper in faith and philosophy by Megan Page and Alison Crial

Thornton titled, Have We Know Shame, a moral exemplar account of Atonement?

And they reference you in the paper, citing your published work on the Atonement.

You've addressed this view, Bill, you've talked about Peter Abelard.

Before we define it, is there anything new about this view of the Atonement?

Well, I think that Page and Thornton's theory of the Atonement extends the work of Eleanor

Stump on the Atonement, which focuses on shame, and dealing with shame, which serves as

an obstacle, preventing us from being reconciled and at one with God.

So in that sense, it continues that new thrust.

But in another sense, Kevin, I found the article really disheartening.

To me, it's just the same old, same old that we come to expect from contemporary Christian

philosophers, that is to say theories of the Atonement that are spun out of the philosophical

imagination and only tangentially related to biblical doctrine.

I think it's just vital that we understand in this connection the difference between

a theory of the Atonement and the doctrine of the Atonement.

The doctrine of the Atonement refers to the biblical teaching about Atonement.

Atonement is a very rich and variegated theme throughout the Old and New Testament.

And the doctrine of the Atonement has been very aptly compared to a beautiful multifaceted

jewel.

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