Non-Violent Atonement

Preaching Peace is a web site I stumbled upon while researching Rene' Girard's mimetic theory...sometimes referred to as the Anthropology of the Cross. This is the website of a nonprofit organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In the Introductory section there are articles that give a basic overview of the works of Girard. In the Occasional section there are more in depth articles. About a year ago, I ordered the series of DVDs from their 2006 Atonement Conference. Sharon Baker was one of my favorites speakers. It was a conference...and not a sermon, so the style was a bit dry. Many of them "read their papers" and some did a better job than others. The question and answer sessions at the end of each DVD were the best part.

On the website, the DVD's from the 2007 conference are available for purchase. Also, the following 20 or so minute presentation samples are available. They all deal with different aspects of "non-violent atonement" which is a phrase coined by J. Denny Weaver from his book called....The Nonviolent Atonement (link leads to Google Books with a fairly extensive review of the book with sample sections and related articles)

Session 5: Nonviolent interpretive methods - Tony Bartlett
Session 6: A Biblical anthropology - Micahel Hardin
Session 8: Passion accounts in the Bible - Tony Bartlett
Session 10: How do we apply this - Greg Boyd

Greg Boyd's talk was my favorite. Lofty ideals and abstract concepts are often hard to put into practice...but he briefly gives his views on how to apply this understanding. He is probably best known for his writings on open theism. His blog is called Random Reflections.

Preaching Peace is definitey worth a visit. You will find lots of off the beaten path views of the atonement, peace church theology and links to other sites that see things from the same perspective.