The Patristic Roots of Satisfaction Atonement Theories: Did the Church Fathers Affirm Only Christus Victor?

In his work _Christus Victor_, Gustaf Aulén argued that Anselm of Canterbury’s account of the atonement was foreign to ancient Christian belief. In particular, Aulén argued that Anselm diverged from the original understanding of the doctrine as presented by the church fathers. Aulén argued that the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Meyer, James David (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Tyndale House 2020
In: Tyndale bulletin
Year: 2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 2, Pages: 293-319
Further subjects:B aulén
B Doctrine
B Atonement
B Early Christianity
B Satisfaction
B christus victor
B anselm
B Patristics
B Historical Theology
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Summary:In his work _Christus Victor_, Gustaf Aulén argued that Anselm of Canterbury’s account of the atonement was foreign to ancient Christian belief. In particular, Aulén argued that Anselm diverged from the original understanding of the doctrine as presented by the church fathers. Aulén argued that the Eastern church rightly endorsed a model of the atonement that he called the ‘classic view’, while Anselm in the West later wrongly developed a theory of satisfaction that Aulén called the ‘Latin’ view. This critique, by extension, applies to other ‘Anselmic’ theories of atonement such as penal substitution that, like Anselm’s, also affirm that Christ’s death in some way satisfied God’s requirements in response to human sin. Patristic literature shows, however, that Aulén’s conclusion is more imposition than exposition. Fathers from both East and West commonly advanced theories that comport well with what Aulén called the Latin view alongside _Christus Victor_.
ISSN:0082-7118
Contains:Enthalten in: Tyndale bulletin
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.53751/001c.27751