SWDGISS: Atonement Theories
Faith Adjacent
The Popcast Media Group
4.8 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What’s the deal with theories of atonement? In this latest Stuff We Didn’t Get in Sunday School Episode, Erin and Evan discuss popular atonement theories and answer listener questions about topics like atonement in other religions, what sin has to do with all this, how to talk with kids about these topics, and so much more! We also know that these topics can be tough and confusing, so we’ve found TV show comparisons for each theory!
MENTIONS
- More Nerdy Content: What’s That Mean 2: Weird Stuff with Animals | Ask-A-Bible Scholar | Heretic Hoedown: Peter Abelard
- Penal Substitutionary Atonement Theory: PSA Debate from Christianity Today | 10 Problems with PSA | NT Wright on PSA | Ephesians 2:1-10 | 1 Peter 3:18
- Christus Victor: Learn more here
- Ransom Theory: Matthew 20:28 | Learn more here
- Recapitulation Theory: Romans 5 | 1 Corinthians 15 | Learn more here
- Moral Influence: John 15:13 | Romans 5:8 | 1 John 4:9–11 | Learn more here | Heretic Hoedown: Peter Abelard
- Scapegoat Theory: Learn more here
- Example Theory: 1 Peter 2:21–23 | Philippians 2:5–8 | John 13:15 | Faustus Socinus
- Satisfaction Theory: Learn more here
- Elect and Effective Theory: John 10:11, 15 | John 6:37–39 | Ephesians 1:4–7 | Monergism
- Vicarious Repentance Theory: Learn more here
- Moral Government Theory: Learn more here
- Sin Deep Dive: Not The Way It's Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantiga Jr. | What Are Sin, Iniquity, and Transgression in the Bible? By Shara Drimalla | Bible Project Sin Videos
- Meredith Anne Miller: Substack | Teaching Kids about Easter | Jackie Hill Perry Needs Some Kids Church Training | How To Talk About Easter with Very Young Kids | 3 Things I Never Include When Telling Kids the Easter Story
- Evan’s Resources: Simply Jesus by NT Wright | This Article from Marianne Meye Thompson | The Day the Revolution Began by NT Wright | Penal Substitution and Atonement Video | Ask NT Wright Anything Podcast | The Epidemic of Moral Injury by Rita Nakashima Brock
- Evan’s Resources: The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper | The Wood Between the Worlds by Brian Zahnd | The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views | The Cross and the Kaleidoscope by Alex Early and Enoch Wan | The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge | The Mosaic of Atonement by Joshua McNall | Five Views on the Extent of the Atonement | Atonement in Christianity by William E. Burns
- Palette Cleanser: The Spicy NOs of Easter on Patreon
The Faith Adjacent Seminary: Support us on Patreon.
I’ve Got Questions by Erin Moon: Order Here | Guided Journal
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Faith Adjacent. I'm your host and resident |
| 0:15.3 | Bible scholar Aaron Moon. And joining me today, getting ready to fistfight the early church |
| 0:18.9 | fathers about penal substitutionary theory. It's Evan Dodson. And today, we are talking all the stuff we didn't get in Sunday |
| 0:25.9 | school, Atonement Theory version. But before we get started, as you can imagine, this is going to be |
| 0:32.4 | a very nerdy episode. And if you like that kind of thing, we do stuff like this all the time over at our |
| 0:38.5 | nerdy and fun fake online seminary, the faith adjacent seminary. We recently did an episode |
| 0:43.7 | series called What's That Mean? Where we looked at weird stuff with animals in the Bible. |
| 0:47.7 | We've got an Ask a Bible scholar series where we research the most theologically rich questions |
| 0:53.4 | that come from our community. |
| 0:54.9 | One of those questions actually inspired this episode right here. |
| 0:59.0 | And then there's Aaron's Heritage Code on series, which might come into play in this episode as well. |
| 1:03.6 | I've linked all these episodes in the show notes, and you can access them with a seven-day free trial. |
| 1:09.3 | We'd love to have you join us over at the most wonderfully |
| 1:12.2 | weird place on the internet. It's true. We would. It would be great fun. We have a good time over |
| 1:16.7 | there. Okay. So today, Evan, you and I are co-leading Sunday school class to discuss the theology |
| 1:25.2 | of atonement, the various theories at play when we talk about |
| 1:29.3 | atonement. And we're going to also talk. Should we should we be like traveling Sunday school |
| 1:33.6 | teachers? Is that our destiny? I don't know. I'm like, oh, here we go. I think there's a, |
| 1:38.6 | I think adult Sunday school classes taught in the style of children's Sunday school would be my dream for us. I could get down. I could get down with that. But, and we're also going to answer listener questions about atonement. But before we do that, let's get a baseline of what atonement is, what it isn't, how we can understand it. I think it's also really helpful to remind our listeners that people spend years studying theories |
| 2:03.6 | of atonement. And the way we look at atonement traditionally has changed a lot over the past |
| 2:10.6 | 2000 years. So let me just say that there's absolutely no way that Evan or I could do this |
| 2:17.4 | subject justice in the span of a podcast episode. |
... |
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