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Jesus and the Undoing of Adam by C. Baxter Kruger
Jesus and the Undoing of Adam is straight from the heart of St. Athanasius and the early Church. In this short but powerful book, Dr. Baxter Kruger takes us back behind the back of Augustine to rethink the work of Jesus Christ in the light of the blessed doctrine of the Trinity. Dr. Kruger sets forward a stunning vision of the Triune God and articulates a view of Christ's incarnation, life,
death, resurrection and ascension that is rigorously consistent with the truth that the Triune God eternally purposed our adoption in Jesus Christ.
C. BAXTER KRUGER is the Director of Perichoresis, an international ministry sharing the good news of our adoption in Christ with the world.
He and his wife Beth have been married for 25 years and have four children.
He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree under Professor James B. Torrance in Aberdeen, Scotland. Baxter is the author of seven books,
including The Great Dance and Across All Worlds, and teaches across the United States, Canada and Australia. He is an avid outdoorsman and holds two United States patents for his fishing lure designs. He is the founder and President of Mediator Lures.
death, resurrection and ascension that is rigorously consistent with the truth that the Triune God eternally purposed our adoption in Jesus Christ.
C. BAXTER KRUGER is the Director of Perichoresis, an international ministry sharing the good news of our adoption in Christ with the world.
He and his wife Beth have been married for 25 years and have four children.
He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree under Professor James B. Torrance in Aberdeen, Scotland. Baxter is the author of seven books,
including The Great Dance and Across All Worlds, and teaches across the United States, Canada and Australia. He is an avid outdoorsman and holds two United States patents for his fishing lure designs. He is the founder and President of Mediator Lures.
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First published September 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
August 26, 2017
I'm just finishing up this short 70 page book. I've read a number of theological books in the last couple of years that have forced me to change the way I think. In that sense this one is like jet fuel, high octane. I'd imagine it possible for one to dig their heels into their existing constructs and discard what Kruger presents, but I find this the most liberating, realistic presentation of the gospel I've encountered. A word of caution, if you don't want to be challenged, don't pick it up!
October 7, 2017
This book addresses the staggering flaws in western Christianity. More than that, it explains plainly how this warped and tarred view of God's heart came to be. Man himself, through anxiety, has created a split personality god who cannot and will not show mercy to man because of mans sin. That he is a temper tantrum throwing deity whose emotions are easily swayed.
Man has superimpose a legal structure over the heart of the triune God and expound the death of Jesus under the rubric of law and justice, guilt and punishment. There is something much more ancient about Gods relationship with human beings than the law.
I think this book is an important opinion to read and consider for anyone who has grown up in the church, is interested in attempting to live in a biblical manner, or has been taught from a pulpit. Western Christianity has failed in so many ways and this book helps to dig us out of this mythological angry god Christianity knows too well.
And that’s just a fraction of it.
Man has superimpose a legal structure over the heart of the triune God and expound the death of Jesus under the rubric of law and justice, guilt and punishment. There is something much more ancient about Gods relationship with human beings than the law.
I think this book is an important opinion to read and consider for anyone who has grown up in the church, is interested in attempting to live in a biblical manner, or has been taught from a pulpit. Western Christianity has failed in so many ways and this book helps to dig us out of this mythological angry god Christianity knows too well.
And that’s just a fraction of it.
December 31, 2022
Was torn about whether to give this three stars or four stars; it was a mixed bag. In this remarkably short volume, Kruger offers a theology of atonement that is primarily informed by the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ’s Ascension. He does well to present a robust Trinitarian theology that will prove readable and coherent for most all audiences. His work is largely informed by Athanasius and T.F. Torrance. He presents the Trinity as simple, eternally impassable, and perichoretical; and he offers a strong polemic against penal models of atonement in the West that pit the persons of the Trinity against each other.
That said, this is far from an exhaustive work on the atonement. Kruger engages very little, if at all, with biblical content (and/or extra-biblical scholarship) that challenges his perspectives. Large swaths of relevant biblical themes and passages remain completely untouched (e.g., there’s no discussion whatsoever of cultic sacrifice or covenant theology). While there is a lot of good here, and Kruger does an excellent job explaining and analogizing complex information, I would be hesitant to recommend this to someone as a stand-alone treatment of the atonement. It’s more of a clarion call for the retrieval of classical Trinitarianism in modern thinking on the atonement.
That said, this is far from an exhaustive work on the atonement. Kruger engages very little, if at all, with biblical content (and/or extra-biblical scholarship) that challenges his perspectives. Large swaths of relevant biblical themes and passages remain completely untouched (e.g., there’s no discussion whatsoever of cultic sacrifice or covenant theology). While there is a lot of good here, and Kruger does an excellent job explaining and analogizing complex information, I would be hesitant to recommend this to someone as a stand-alone treatment of the atonement. It’s more of a clarion call for the retrieval of classical Trinitarianism in modern thinking on the atonement.
October 7, 2024
One of the best books I have ever read! It’s not religion and the law, it’s the LOVE of the Father, Son and Spirit!
Read it!
Read it!
March 17, 2013
I love this book. It did a splendid job of making me think, and that deeply much of the time. C. Baxter Kruger is passionate about the restoration of all things that are found in the finished work of the cross. He draws a clear picture of the trinitarian view of God working together to bring mankind back to the place where he wanted them to be as sons and daughters of God. I found this book to be quite challenging to read, having to stop and ponder the ideas quite frequently. The only drawback I saw in the book was the lack of scriptural references for the overall ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to others who want a clearer picture of the Father and the finished work of redemption. Beautiful book.
March 20, 2010
This is a good book as a starting place for the study of Trinitarian Theology. This is a short book succinctly discussing "the Fall" of Adam, its effect on all humanity and the intervention of (The Trinitarian) God through the Son (Jesus) and the adaption of humanity.
That was an attempt to describe the book's subject matter in short order. It touches on other subjects and discusses God's plan and relational Christianity. It is a good place as I said for study to start on Trinitarian, relational Christianity.
That was an attempt to describe the book's subject matter in short order. It touches on other subjects and discusses God's plan and relational Christianity. It is a good place as I said for study to start on Trinitarian, relational Christianity.
May 7, 2010
Interesting book about Adam's downfall and its effect on humanity.
September 4, 2022
This short book (70 pages) deserves a very slow read to BEGIN to see the depth of encouragement held there. The last two chapters of the four - "A Note on 'My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?'" and "A Good Friday Sermon: On the Death of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ" - are truly worth the cost of the entire book for their points to meditate and to create wonder.
I can hear the complaints of a "new teaching" or "tickling ears" when one sees a chapter devoted to "A Note on 'Evangelical' Theology" & one presumes this book exists simply to join a wide chorus of "attacks on the Church" (or on the evangelical portion of the Church, that is).
But Kruger grounds his points in a goal of knowing Jesus for ourselves, the "crisis point for each generation in the Church. It is only by knowing Jesus that we are set free for life, yet the road to knowing Jesus requires that we acknowledge our baggage and deal with it. We must become aware of our habits of thought and examine our inherited ideas, which have shaped our perception of God" (p. 13).
He situates his ideas in a closer look at the Trinity than I experienced in my background. As one who was reared in a tradition believing that the Fall created an anger in God the Father against the sin of man that had to be appeased by pouring out God the Father's wrath on Jesus instead of me, this look highlighted some of the "baggage" I've carried. Baggage that dampened my acceptance or awareness of the love of God.
Or, as the author states, "There are those who want us to believe that on the day Adam fell, God the Father was filled with a bloodthirsty anger that demanded punishment before He would even consider forgiveness...But that is to assume that the Father was changed by Adam's sin, and that His heart is now divided toward His creatures" (p. 68). Yes, I was reared to believe in the immutable nature of God, that He never changed, and that His very nature was Love - as the overarching attribute controlling all else. But my certainty of "knowing" kept me from wrestling with these considerations that seem at odds when I see this divided mind of the Trinity toward humanity after the Fall.
To see the truth that "God is for us" (Romans 8:31) includes standing in the mystery of what Kruger refers to as the "eternal Yes! to the human race, a Yes! to life and fullness and joy for us, that the Fall and its disaster is met with a stout and intolerable No! 'This is not acceptable. I did not create you to perish in darkness, not you' ... Human existence, broken and estranged and perfected, must be radically circumcised and systematically recreated, utterly and thoroughly transformed, and bent back into right relationship with the Father" (68-69). A change accomplished by the thirty-three years of the incarnated life and death and resurrection of God the Son.
So much to ponder and revisit in the ideas of this short but weighty book.
I can hear the complaints of a "new teaching" or "tickling ears" when one sees a chapter devoted to "A Note on 'Evangelical' Theology" & one presumes this book exists simply to join a wide chorus of "attacks on the Church" (or on the evangelical portion of the Church, that is).
But Kruger grounds his points in a goal of knowing Jesus for ourselves, the "crisis point for each generation in the Church. It is only by knowing Jesus that we are set free for life, yet the road to knowing Jesus requires that we acknowledge our baggage and deal with it. We must become aware of our habits of thought and examine our inherited ideas, which have shaped our perception of God" (p. 13).
He situates his ideas in a closer look at the Trinity than I experienced in my background. As one who was reared in a tradition believing that the Fall created an anger in God the Father against the sin of man that had to be appeased by pouring out God the Father's wrath on Jesus instead of me, this look highlighted some of the "baggage" I've carried. Baggage that dampened my acceptance or awareness of the love of God.
Or, as the author states, "There are those who want us to believe that on the day Adam fell, God the Father was filled with a bloodthirsty anger that demanded punishment before He would even consider forgiveness...But that is to assume that the Father was changed by Adam's sin, and that His heart is now divided toward His creatures" (p. 68). Yes, I was reared to believe in the immutable nature of God, that He never changed, and that His very nature was Love - as the overarching attribute controlling all else. But my certainty of "knowing" kept me from wrestling with these considerations that seem at odds when I see this divided mind of the Trinity toward humanity after the Fall.
To see the truth that "God is for us" (Romans 8:31) includes standing in the mystery of what Kruger refers to as the "eternal Yes! to the human race, a Yes! to life and fullness and joy for us, that the Fall and its disaster is met with a stout and intolerable No! 'This is not acceptable. I did not create you to perish in darkness, not you' ... Human existence, broken and estranged and perfected, must be radically circumcised and systematically recreated, utterly and thoroughly transformed, and bent back into right relationship with the Father" (68-69). A change accomplished by the thirty-three years of the incarnated life and death and resurrection of God the Son.
So much to ponder and revisit in the ideas of this short but weighty book.
May 26, 2025
I've read Jesus and the Undoing of Adam before several years ago for Seminary. It's a decent short book. Kruger does a solid work to dismantle one of the biggest theological problems in church theology today: penal substitution atonement theory. That’s the idea that God, because of Adam’s sin, requires a perfect sacrifice or He will punish us for it. Enter God’s only Son, the only perfect sacrifice, to bear the full brunt of God’s wrath. God unleashes all His fury onto Jesus when it should have been us. Now God is appeased unless we refuse to believe God is appeased, cause then He’s not, evidently, according to proponents of PSA.
What Baxter does is implement the theology of the Trinity as a way to refute PSA by way of both scriptures and early church writings, especially Athanasius and his On the Incarnation.
Reading it again, the part that stood out to me the most was how Kruger frames Jesus’ words on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” was not the final word. The final word was “It is finished” and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” God never left Jesus at the cross. He did not turn His back on Jesus. God was fully present in Christ, reconciling the world back to Himself, not Himself to the world.
It’s an easy read and quite on the point without needing to spend volumes repeating the same information.
What Baxter does is implement the theology of the Trinity as a way to refute PSA by way of both scriptures and early church writings, especially Athanasius and his On the Incarnation.
Reading it again, the part that stood out to me the most was how Kruger frames Jesus’ words on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” was not the final word. The final word was “It is finished” and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” God never left Jesus at the cross. He did not turn His back on Jesus. God was fully present in Christ, reconciling the world back to Himself, not Himself to the world.
It’s an easy read and quite on the point without needing to spend volumes repeating the same information.
November 1, 2018
Kruger offers a powerful account of the triune God whose love motivates his whole work of creation and human redemption unto adoption. He unpacks the devastating depths of human existence in Adam and the incredible way in which Jesus the Son enters into that Adamic existence to convert the human race and raise us up into the freedom and joy and abundance of life in fellowship with the triune God.
Along the way, Kruger pushes against the traditional Western (and now popular) conception of an angry God who sends his Son to appease his anger and save us from himself. And he explains why Jesus' cry of God-forsakenness from the cross, when read in light of the whole of Psalm 22 and of his other words from the cross, points to his agonizing identification with human alienation, which becomes the point in which the Father emphatically does not abandon, but delivers his Son because of his unflinching faithfulness.
This slim book is an excellent entry point into the thought of the Eastern Fathers (esp. Athanasius) and their modern interpreters such as T. F. Torrence. The implications have the potential to shake some of the most basic theological foundations of those of us raised in Western, and especially post-Reformation, traditions. A challenging and riveting read!
Along the way, Kruger pushes against the traditional Western (and now popular) conception of an angry God who sends his Son to appease his anger and save us from himself. And he explains why Jesus' cry of God-forsakenness from the cross, when read in light of the whole of Psalm 22 and of his other words from the cross, points to his agonizing identification with human alienation, which becomes the point in which the Father emphatically does not abandon, but delivers his Son because of his unflinching faithfulness.
This slim book is an excellent entry point into the thought of the Eastern Fathers (esp. Athanasius) and their modern interpreters such as T. F. Torrence. The implications have the potential to shake some of the most basic theological foundations of those of us raised in Western, and especially post-Reformation, traditions. A challenging and riveting read!
August 24, 2020
This slim volume is a very readable introduction to Trinitarian theology and its grounding in the early church. Kruger is a patristics scholar who is helping reeducate western Christians about the vision of the early church—particularly how the early church fathers were wrestling with the Trinity over and against pagan impulses to remove some aspect of Christ’s full divinity or humanity.
This is not an intellectual theology book. Baxter Kruger lays out a passionate and heart-filled vision of the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ as the origin and story of the history of the cosmos. Along the way he exposes the development in western Christian tradition of a legal-minded God (a god he likes to call "the omni-being”), which infects most of evangelical theology today. If the trinity is so good, so loving and so relational, why the suffering? Why did the law even come into being? (What was Israel’s purpose anyway?) And of course, why did Jesus even have to die? These are all the big questions that any metanarrative has to answer to our hearts. He answers them all so beautifully. The last chapter is a glorious sermon on the question of Christ’s suffering. (How many Protestants have contemplated what the ascension really was?) Read with joy!
This is not an intellectual theology book. Baxter Kruger lays out a passionate and heart-filled vision of the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ as the origin and story of the history of the cosmos. Along the way he exposes the development in western Christian tradition of a legal-minded God (a god he likes to call "the omni-being”), which infects most of evangelical theology today. If the trinity is so good, so loving and so relational, why the suffering? Why did the law even come into being? (What was Israel’s purpose anyway?) And of course, why did Jesus even have to die? These are all the big questions that any metanarrative has to answer to our hearts. He answers them all so beautifully. The last chapter is a glorious sermon on the question of Christ’s suffering. (How many Protestants have contemplated what the ascension really was?) Read with joy!
October 7, 2025
Though I agreed with much that the author said, I was disappointed in several things: the book is very short (70 pages), quite repetitive, and sadly lacking in rigor. Still, Kruger offers some important insights and breadcrumbs leading to foundational theology that presents a much needed corrective to the dominant view of the atonement in the West. Anselm and Calvin have sketched for us a harsh and unloving God who demanded the brutal death of Jesus to satisfy his wrath over sin--a tragic mischaracterization that has lead to troubling logic flaws in doctrine and the real wounding of people both inside and outside of the Church.
August 20, 2021
One of the most impactful little books I have ever read. Really it is a manifesto of sorts. With not even 80 pages in this book, Kruger leaves much to be discussed, but that is no criticism. Of thousands of books written around this subject, all seem flow from the same stream. However, Kruger, with all his might, swims back up river to discover that there is another stream that few have dared to dive into.
November 22, 2022
Reclaiming the Church Historic’s view of Christ’s Atonement
If you are steeped in Western Evangelical Christianity, then this book will may serve to encourage and challenge you. I found every chapter to be well researched and supported. He may not always shine a true light on penal substitutionary atonement, but his critiques, in my opinion, are for the most part spot on. The chapter on psalm 22 is worth the price of the book alone!!
If you are steeped in Western Evangelical Christianity, then this book will may serve to encourage and challenge you. I found every chapter to be well researched and supported. He may not always shine a true light on penal substitutionary atonement, but his critiques, in my opinion, are for the most part spot on. The chapter on psalm 22 is worth the price of the book alone!!
February 1, 2024
He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin, that we might become the righteousness of God,in Christ!
Baxter expresses the very elements of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a susinct and compelling manner! I recommend this to everyone reading this review. Two thousand years of neoplatonist nonsense, and legalistic western theology has so confused our understanding of how pure God's love is for us!!!
Baxter expresses the very elements of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a susinct and compelling manner! I recommend this to everyone reading this review. Two thousand years of neoplatonist nonsense, and legalistic western theology has so confused our understanding of how pure God's love is for us!!!
November 26, 2021
True Freedom in the GOOD NEWS
If you have been in traditional American church you may struggle with words like Sin, Holiness, and Faith. You may even feel exhausted by trying to do all the work necessary to get to Heaven. Then you come to a place and ask yourself I though Jesus said it was finished. You need to read this book, like now!!!
If you have been in traditional American church you may struggle with words like Sin, Holiness, and Faith. You may even feel exhausted by trying to do all the work necessary to get to Heaven. Then you come to a place and ask yourself I though Jesus said it was finished. You need to read this book, like now!!!
February 16, 2023
Wanted a book that dscribes the relation between Father and the Son Jesus Christ but beginning to read I got very disappointed .I will just read through it because to see if it gets better.spontaniously right now I regret even buying it. the wish to send it back is stronger than continue reading bt I will give it a chance.
June 26, 2021
A great book that talks about the trinity, it also corrects some common misconceptions some people may have about Jesus and his actions e.g. why did Jesus have to die? I enjoyed it and will be reading more of Kruger's work.
May 7, 2022
I was blind but now I can see. Amazing Grace.
This book has transformed me. I recommend this to any person seeking truth and authenticity. Jesus and the Undoing of Adam has set in motion the Revelation of the Triune life....I was blind but now I see. Amazing Grace.
This book has transformed me. I recommend this to any person seeking truth and authenticity. Jesus and the Undoing of Adam has set in motion the Revelation of the Triune life....I was blind but now I see. Amazing Grace.
July 18, 2024
I have never read more beautiful theology. My heart leapt in my chest with every paragraph. If you are a believer, you have to read this. If you believe in his death and resurrection, but have lingering questions about the why of it all, pick it up. Today.
July 26, 2024
Oh, I’m utterly undone. Baxter is clear and easy to understand. His words are steeped in scripture and him pulling on Athanasius’ view of the trinity is everything. It was a quick read that left me tender and wanting so much more
October 3, 2025
Beyond Words Speechless
My my my! I finished the book a few minutes ago and my emotions flowed! This book blows me away. This is the most powerful book I have ever read on the death and resurrection of Jesus. So many questions have been answered.
My my my! I finished the book a few minutes ago and my emotions flowed! This book blows me away. This is the most powerful book I have ever read on the death and resurrection of Jesus. So many questions have been answered.
January 19, 2018
It is Finished
Love love loved this book. Yes I do recommend. You discover God's no that was completed with the Yes of Jesus. God so loved the world........
Love love loved this book. Yes I do recommend. You discover God's no that was completed with the Yes of Jesus. God so loved the world........
February 10, 2019
Amazing book!!!
March 2, 2019
This represents a mind altering and life changing way to look at the love of God.
March 21, 2019
Undoing my bad theology
Thanks Baxter for freeing me from a Legalistic God. I'm beginning to be set Free from Shame and see Jesus for who He really is
Thanks Baxter for freeing me from a Legalistic God. I'm beginning to be set Free from Shame and see Jesus for who He really is
August 6, 2019
A simple, short book that will redefine your gospel.
October 26, 2021
Great book in general. But Kruger avoids exegetical argumentation, which weakens his argument significantly.
November 8, 2021
Everyone needs to read this book. This is the theology we need in the West of the atonement and reconciliation. Thank you Baxter!
January 18, 2022
Possibly the most profound and inciteful book of our day. Baxter gives the most beautiful picture of what Jesus' death meant that I've ever read or heard. It is a must read for anyone and everyone.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews