Rethinking the Atonement

by David M. Moffitt, N.T. Wright (Foreword)

Traditional views of the atonement tend to be reductive, focusing solely on Jesus's death on the cross. In his 2011 groundbreaking book Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews , David Moffitt challenged that paradigm, showing how the atonement is a fuller process. It involves not only Jesus's death but also his resurrection, ascension, offering, and exaltation.

In the succeeding years, Moffitt has continued to expand and clarify his thinking on this issue. This book offers a more fulsome articulation of his work on the atonement that reflects his recent thinking on the topic. Moffitt continues to challenge reductive views of the atonement, primarily from the book of Hebrews, but he engages other New Testament passages as well. He offers fresh insights on sacrifice and atonement, the importance of resurrection and ascension, Jesus's role as priest, and a new perspective on Hebrews.

This important book brings Moffitt's award-winning and influential scholarship to a broader audience. The book includes a foreword by N. T. Wright.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Biblical Studies

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2022

About the author

Dr Moffitt’s research interests orbit around the various ways the earliest Christians understood Jesus and their own identities in relation to Jewish scripture, practices, and beliefs. His work is especially focused on the Epistle to the Hebrews and the strategies the text employs to interpret early Christian claims about Jesus’ person, death, resurrection, and ascension in high-priestly and sacrificial terms. His book on Hebrews (Atonement and the Logic of Resurrection in the Epistle to the Hebrews) attempts to show that the Christology and Soteriology developed by the author rests upon his correlation of the basic narrative of early Christian proclamation (i.e., Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension) with the ritual process of the Yom Kippur sacrifices, the end goal of which was the restoration and maintenance of fellowship between God and creation (i.e., atonement).

Reviews

[Carson Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Helped to fill in more of my gaps in atonement. Moffitt’s main thesis is that the crucifixion is not where sins are forgiven. It is part of a larger process that includes the ascension and presentation of Jesus’s perfected body to the Father. Some adjacent issues are discussed such as the sufferings of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 not being for the forgiveness of sins, but for the repairing of the covenant so that sacrifices can again be efficacious. Another adjacent issue is something that should be obvious: the animals sacrificed are not beaten, so we should not read the suffering of Jesus as a sacrificial motif, but as an Isaiah 53 motif. Another is that the only animal that “takes on the sins” of the people (the scape goat) is not sacrificed at all, but is released into the wilderness. Another point I found interesting is the link of the Eucharist to the Passover lamb. That is, the reason the disciples eat the bread is for the same reason the lay offerers eat the Passover sacrifice. Jesus is making an explicit claim to being that sacrifice. A point Moffitt makes repeatedly throughout is that the sacrifice involves slaughter, but this is only part of the full process. Further, the animal is not slaughtered on the alter, but rather is slaughtered in the outer courts before being taken into the Holy of Holies to be sprinkled on the altar. In effect, the sacrifice is presented to God in the Holy of Holies, not where the animal is killed. So Jesus’s work on the cross is not completed on the cross, but is ongoing in His presentation of his body in the heavenly Holy of Holies until such a time as His return. In that way, we are waiting in the wilderness on the entry to the Promised Land. I could go on, but should wrap up. Great book!

[Humble · Rating 5 out of 5]

"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." 1 Cor 15:17

I think this is a bit of a conclusion to a journey that started with me admitting in my Christus Victor review that I once was unsure of the place of the Resurrection of Jesus in redemptive history. I knew it was necessary because Paul said it was, but I didn't understand its functional place, as again, the idiom of my pedagogy was nearly exclusively (often penal) substitutional frameworks.

Aulén's Christus Victor, for all its flaws, has some grounding in patristics and offers an answer in more grant narrative than mechanical terms.

Thiessen's Jesus and the Forces of Death clarified a lot of things for me about the earthly work of Jesus, and how it related directly, inseparably, to the cultic practices and concerns of 1st and 2nd Temple Judaism. Gaining conceptual frameworks for personal and spatial impurity/purity, holy/profane dichotomies, and how they (and their driving conception of the forces of death) impacted normative Jewish worship, has felt key for understanding key ways we have continuity with the things in the Old Testament that Christians often skip over, specifically Leviticus's ritual descriptions. That tighter coupling of even the more alien parts between the Old and the New was, I think, a useful stepping stone for this book here.

'Hebrews famously emphasizes Jesus as the eternal High Priest of the New Covenant "after the order of Melchizedek." This book is a series of essays that largely looks at how 'Hebrews conceives of Jesus's activities within the framework of High Priest, including how Moffitt's exegetical conclusions have direct antecedents in people as early and prominent as Origen. I'll briefly note that the only criticism I have to levy at the book is its form. This is not a monograph, it is a series of independent essays that have been lightly edited, though they remain separated as chapters. As such there is a lot of restating and reestablishing recurrent premises, which is occasionally tedious though sometimes quite useful.

To briefly summarize the main throughline — sacrifice is not slaughter (though the slaughter of animals is a step), and it is a procedure instead of a single moment. The death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and perpetual intercession of Jesus are all steps that make up His eternal sacrifice, His perpetual offering of His eternal life to God. The sacrifice is comprised of sequential, spatial (in terms of moving towards God's Temple at each step), and hierarchal events that are directly analogous to the events of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement.

On Yom Kippur, the goat for Azazel becomes polluted the sins of the people, and is killed outside of the camp, away from the sacred space of the Temple, and away from any altars. Priests kill a second goat away from the Temple altars, and the high priest after undergoing extensive purification and preparation, offers the life (not the death) of the second goat in the Holy of Holies, and performs intercession for Israel as they privately confess their sins.

Jesus, analogously, "becomes sin" on the cross, dies on earth, (a move Moffitt does not mention but comports well is integrating "Descended into Hell" with the journey of the goat for Azazel into the wilderness, but that's in 1 Peter not 'Hebrews), is resurrected into an eternal body (logically prior to being High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, and analogous to the preparation the High Priest undergoes to enter the Holy of Holies). Once He ascends He goes into the heavenly Holy of Holies to offer His own immortal life perpetually, eternally making intercession for us where the Yom Kippur was offered annually.

Against an anticipated accusation that this removes the centrality of the Cross in 'Hebrews, Moffitt both reminds that it remains a necessary step in an irreducible process, and draws attention to how 'Hebrews doesn't just operate with a Yom Kippur analogy, but also the events of the first Passover (wherein the blood of the lamb "defeats" The Destroyer in the 10th plague, a narrativization that recalls Aulén), the bloody initiation of the Mosaic Covenant in Exodus 24 (this is My blood of the New Covenant), and of course the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, a figure necessary for the restoration of sacrifices which maintain normative covenantal relations.

This is a reconciliation of how freely scripture and patristics seems to move between speaking of the cross as a once for all time reconciling event, and then speaking of Christ's eternal intercession for us at the right hand of the Father.

Understandably, this perhaps reads like unintelligible arguments over finer points of Lore. But it has real implications. Recognizing the direct continuity between Second Temple Judaism cultic practices and Christ's eternal activity is important in clarifying the mistakes of supersessionist readings of scripture. I think it could even have implications for a softening (at least on my part) towards specific explications of "sacrificial" eucharistic theology. For some, it has direct implications for misunderstandings of Penal Substitutionary Atonement that seems to properly make Jesus the object of God's wrath in the cross, which impugns on the revealed character of God. In scripture and the larger Mystery of the Cross, there remains room for substitutionary, recapitulation, ransom, satisfaction, you name it. But this was a wonderful book that deepened my understanding of how all the parts fit together (though again it's not the whole, as the focus on/of Hebrews causes some preclusion of Davidic enthronement imagery wherein the Holy Spirit is sent as the primary purifying agent, ritually signfied and to some applied by water, moral impurity removed analogously instead to ritual impurity in a way it could not be before Acts 13:38-39), and what 'Hebrews itself is trying to say.

I found it incredibly moving to picture (following Moffitt and the homilies of Jacob of Serugh) the ascended and exalted Jesus approaching the heavenly tabernacle, the priestly angels parting ways as a "creature" (in his human nature/body) enters the heavenly Holy of Holies for the first time to offer atonement/sacrifice/propitiation, and to intercede for us, His siblings, eternally before the Father.

Notes:

The law does not achieve perfection because the logic of the law presupposes the reality of death and mortality. the law cannot overcome its presupposition, the thing that necessitates its prescription. To be "perfected" is to overcome the forces that need the law as a corrective.

Exodus 12 — the first Passover, the blood providing protection and triumph over the destroyer
Isaiah 53 — suffering servant — restore ability to sacrifice
Exodus 24 — bloody initiation of the mosaic covenant
Leviticus 16:10 — goat for Azazel which is driven to the wilderness away from the temple
Leviticus 16:9 — dead perfect sin offering goat in the temple
Psalm 8 — glorification above the angels (Heb 2:7)
Jonah — Matthew and post "resurrection" the mission converting Gentiles
Acts 10 — Cornelius and the purification of the Gentiles in Pentecost
'Hebrews and the Pentateuchal narrative of the New Covenant. Wandering in the wilderness, or patiently waiting for the Promised Land

[Tim Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of essays on the Atonement and related themes that did indeed, make me rethink what I thought I knew about it all. Really great stuff.

Some chapters are stronger and more related to the topic of atonement than others, but overall a phenomenal book that will change the way you view what took place after Jesus was crucified.

[Jon Sumulong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays, mostly about atonement, although there are a few essays that fall outside of that theme/topic (e.g., chapters 13 and 15). Moffitt is a New Testament scholar writing about biblical notions of atonement. This is not a book that means to present a full picture of the doctrine of Atonement. Instead, Moffitt traces and explores the minutia of sacrifice, atonement, purity, the role of blood in the Levitical system, and the priesthood to then bring clarity to how the New Testament applies those concepts to Jesus.

Because this book is a collection of essays from a single author, most of which are related to common theme, there is some repetition. But this book is a goldmine for carefully exploring the idea of atonement in a way that stays very close to the biblical text but also seems to be teeming with fresh insight (in fact one of the essays wrestles with the apparent novelty of some of these ideas).

Who is this book for? On one hand, these are scholarly essays and they often appeal to Hebrew or Greek. But on the other hand, Moffitt is a clear writer and a precise thinker. If you know your way around some of the more technical terms used in biblical scholarship (or don't mind looking them up) and you're interested in atonement, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

[Nick Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the content of this book. Moffit helpfully corrects common misunderstands of Levitical sacrifice, and then locates Hebrews’ arguments within the biblical logic of sacrifice.

Sacrifice was a process that culminated in presenting the “life-blood” of the animal to God. In the process of Jesus’ sacrifice, atonement is accomplished when Jesus has ascended, presenting his sacrifice before the Father. I especially appreciated the engagement with early Christian reception of Hebrews, as he demonstrates here that his thesis is not novel.

However, this book is simply a collection of essays, and it definitely impacts the book’s readability. While this is acknowledged in the introduction, I thought that the books arguments would’ve been easier to follow at times (and less repetitive) if they had been rewritten in a book format, building arguments throughout the book rather than quickly and repetitively within each chapter.

With that said, the writing itself is clear and compelling, and this book is a must read for those interested in reexamining biblical sacrifice and atonement.

[Dave Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right off the top, one of things I most appreciate about this book is Moffitt's extremely graceful and careful presentation of this theories. He makes clear distinctions between where he is dealing with theory and where he is dealiing with the facts and information informing his theory. He also does a really good job at tracking the flow of his argument, clarifying as he goes along which subsequent arguments depend on prior established statements. He offers a lot of "if this true, then...", and that goes a long ways in allowing room for engagement with the ideas he is tabling.

The general thrust of Moffitts argument rests on where we locate the concept of atonement, how we unerstand its relationship to reconciliation, and how we unersstand atonement as a progression from one place to another. He begins by noting how Tyndale's decision to translate atonement and reconciliation began a long and problematic history of tying the two languages, words that imply reconciliation in the Greek an words that imply atonement, or sacrifice, in the Hebrew, together. This ultimately led to connnecting the reconicling act to the blood, which subsequently resuulted in reading the blood as death rather than what it represents in the Hebrew, which is life.

To put this more simply- atonement became Jesus' death on the cross which then reconciles us to God.

The problem with this is that it makes no sense of the actual language of atonement that we find in the text. This is not to say that the death has no significance. Its also not to say that reconciliation isn't a necessary part of the story. It is to say that if we are to understand atonement in the text, we need to understand the world behind the text. If it is true that Jesus saves from sin, how Jesus does this becomes deeply relevant to the story we tell about both death and reconciliation. An important step in this endeavor is for us to recognize how the Hebrew language, be it the figure of Moses, the messianic expectations, and the language of atonement, defined as it is in relationship to sacrifice in the Hebrew scriptures, gets applied to Jesus as a way of understanding what He did, not the other way around. It was the available language of their day, and it has become muddled by translating that into the language of our day in a way that loses its force of meaning.

Part of the earlier chapters tackle some of the issues that flow from a tendency to reduce the Hebrew scriptures and its language in light of Jesus. This has made us, as Christians, resistant to the language of the Hebrew scriptures, believing it has been superseded, underwritten, or proved wanting, and thus leaves us ignorant to the ways we have imported wrong ideas into our present understandings of atonement. Thus is becomes important to do the work first of establishing why the language of sacrifce in the Hebrew scriptures matters to our understaning of Jesus. This is true and necessary because two of the primary languages used to describe the person and work of Jesus- the Passover and The Day of Atonement- actively depend on these languages to say what they want to say about atonement.

Some key ideas that he touches on:
1. The blood is not associated with Jesus' death but his life, and death is never ritualized. It does in fact occur away from the tabernacle/temple space, and is seen as incidental to the wilderness space where sin and death holds reign, or incidental to taking on the flesh. Death in this sense is not the necessary act, but rather is the thing the necessary act is responding to. In covenantal terms, death becomes the thing that inaugerates the covenant and makes it active.
2. Jesus is clearly presented as performing a priestly duty with His own blood. In the ritual act of sacrfice, atonement is brought about by way of a progression from outside the temple to inside the temple where God resides. This is where the lifeblood, which is where the life is contained, enters the presence of God both as a gift and in its effectiveness to cleanse the space where God dwells.
3. Righeousness is not tied to moral works, as in Jesus ultimately becomes the perfect sacrifice because He followed the laws perfectly and never sinned, righteousness is actually tied to the perfected covenant, or Jesus being perfected in His resurrection and ascension. This is why death no longer has power. Prior to his resurrection (or death) death has that power, and thus righteousness cannot be claimed.
4. Given that reconciliation operates in a different category of thought (how it is that we move into the new space or new reality that atonement brings about in and for the world), it becomes necessary to note that Jesus' work as a high priest doesn't end with the resurrection or ascension, it is depicted as an ongoing work. That is why Jesus' depiction as the etneral preist is deemed to be effective. The sacrifice doesn't need to be repeated, but the work that the blood does in relationship with the world is something that is always acting.
5. The blood is closely related to the idea of space. Its about a movement from one space into another, an in Jesus' person and work this new space is the whole of creation. When we move into the space where God dwells "in Christ" we occupy a new and different reality or space- a new creation space. And as such we witness to this new reality in an already-not yet world still awaiting the fullness of time. This is what the ancients understood as the eschatological resurrection, which for the NT writers is bound to the conviction about Jesus being a singular resurrection in the middle of history.
6. Jesus is not an example, or a cheif model of suffering, He is the righteous one, the proclomation that God has at long last did what He promised to do. The two spaces then are defined by the finite an the eternal, one according to death and decay, the other according to life and transformation.
7. Ritual and moral purity, intentional an unintentional sin, are all given the same category of atonement and follow the same process, defined as all the rites are by the singular unifying dynamic- the burning. The burning is the moment of rising up into God's presence. And it always carries a directional force. Thus the cross enters the tabernacle space where the blood of life is given to God so as to go up an reside with God apart from Sin and Death. In so doing a new space is created where this blood then removes the pollution that results from living in proximity to sin and death.

Its worth pointing out here a dominating facet of this book- Moffitts work in the letter to the Hebrews, which is what he specializes in. Hebrews functions as his pirmary point of reference, moving from Hebrews outwards towards these ideas about atonement and sacrirfice and reconciliation. It adds a compelling and fascinating layer to the overall arguments in the book, as he is similtaneously tackling misconceptions about Hebrews at the same time. Namely the long standing assumption that Hebrews is not concerned with the idea of Resurrection. He makes a powerful case for how resurrrection informs and drives the entire letter, reshaping how we read much of it in relationship to sacrfice.

Definitely a must read for anyone interersted in the current body of work challenging some long held assumptions about Old Testament Jewish sacrifice. He cites and references some of the primary books in this field of study. He brings his own unique slant to the discussion though, exploring some big ideas along the way.

[Smooth Via · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be the odd one out here rating it with only three stars. This is an excellent book full of outstanding scholarly work, thorough research, and thought provoking conclusions. It both challenged me and helped me shift my perspective. My problem is not with any of the content, scholarly work, your conclusions. My problem is that in general, I simply dislike books that are clearly a collection of scholarly journal articles and lectures that are woven together to create a book. Such books simply do not make for an enjoyable read in my opinion.

[Lindsay John Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming. Provocative and inspiring much of the time. At other points it's so clearly a collection of essays (repetition, gaps, lack of flow, etc). This is all the more plain in the final chapters. If had an organized argument across the book, it would be a game-changer. But still, it is excellent.

[Sanjuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is frustrating enough that I wanted to knock off one star, and give it a 4. It was brilliant enough that I couldn't do it. It's not without its problems, but it's so eye-opening that it's a 5 star read despite its limitations.

Why frustrating? It's not a single, streamlined argument. Rather than a monograph, it's a collection of essays edited into a volume, and edited for cohesion. Because of this, there are a lot of holes in the arguments presented, and a lot of important questions and lines of inquiry left unexplored. In the margins of the book, I often wrote things like, "Yeah, but what about...?"

Having said that, the material the book does cover is borderline groundbreaking. The book begins with 10 chapters discussing the atonement in Hebrews, and 4 chapters on important exegetical issues in Matthew, Acts, and 1 Corinthians. I found nearly every chapter to include insightful engagements with the biblical texts. Even if not all correct, Moffitt's proposals are measured and well-articulated, and always worth consideration.

If I were to articulate the main basic take aways from the book, it'd be these two important conclusions.
1. When thinking about the nature of atonement and sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible, and the ways they inform and influence these subjects in the New Testament, we need to be careful and precise. We need to think more clearly to delineate the differences between sacrificial and martyrdom contexts in passages like Exod 12-13, Lev 16-17, and Isa 53. Not all sacrifices are atoning, and not all atoning deaths are sacrificial. We also need to pay close attention to the precise steps and stages of the HB sacrifices, and the functions of each step and their varied purposes in each sacrificial and/or atoning process.
2. When we apply the sacrificial and martyrdom contexts of the HB to the ministry of Jesus, we find that it is not only Jesus' death that has atoning value. In fact, in some NT texts, the death of Jesus is even less important than other actions he takes. In various passages, we find that the incarnation, life, resurrection, ascension, and session of Jesus all have actual atoning value, and at times some of these are emphasized more than the crucifixion itself.

There is a lot to unpack here, but I'll be re-reading and referring to this book often. In fact, I led a discussion on this book with other professors and students where I teach, and the whole reading group found this book fascinating and formative.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard one to rate, because the quality of the content for each individual chapter is outstanding. Moffitt's scholarship and writing are absolutely top-notch, and there is some seriously paradigm-shifting material here. There's a lot to chew on with every page, and when Moffitt challenges conventions, he does so with the utmost thought, care and deep scholarly engagement. It's really outstanding stuff.

The reason I just can't give it 5-stars is because reading the book from cover to cover is a disjointed experience. Most of this material seemed to exist in prior publications, and I was pretty disappointed by the lack of care that went into forming it into a book. The last few chapters, in particular, feel pretty out of place. The style shifts abruptly from theology to text critical work in a few places that hinders the reading experience.

If this had been edited better, smoothed over a bit, and especially if Moffitt had written a new chapter or two to tie everything together, this would have been an utter success and a grand-slam theological publication. As it is, I still love the arguments Moffitt proposes, and will be referencing specific chapters for some time to come, and I would absolutely still recommend this.

[Scott Kercheville · Rating 4 out of 5]

In sacrifice, is the animal’s death enough? No, it must be offered on the altar, and — in the case of the goat for the Lord on the Day of Atonement — its blood must be used in cleansing rites and offered in the Most Holy Place. Only then is the animal accepted for atonement for the tabernacle and the people.

Similarly, Moffit aims to demonstrate — mostly by means of Hebrews — that Jesus’ death is not the end of Jesus’ sacrifice: his resurrection and ascension to the heavenly tabernacle are vital to qualify him for priesthood and to complete his heavenly offering to the Lord.

The book has great insights that I am hopeful will bear fruit for the church’s appreciation of Jesus as he is now in heaven. It is likely pretty confusing to most Christians why Jesus had to ascend to heaven. This book is not a complete account of that, but helps.

Full star deducted because this is a collection of essays, so it is highly repetitive. It seems to me that it couldn’t have been that difficult to cut the size of this work in half. Also, I guess this is not Moffit’s cup of tea, but it would be great to see a learned pastor write a briefer account of this perspective for the church with theological/devotional application as well. Maybe this work could underly something like that.

[Rick Dugan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating though highly academic book detailing Jewish atonement sacrifices as a process culminating in the sprinkling of blood (when the sacrifice is an animal) by the high priest on the altar. Sacrifice includes but is not synonymous with the slaughter of an animal. Atonement takes place later.

Moffitt then places the death, resurrection, ascension, and high priestly intercession of Jesus over this paradigm and concludes that Jesus' sacrifice encompasses the process from death to presentation of his life before the throne of the Father.

I found especially helpful the description of how the process of sacrifice addresses the problems of both morality and mortality, the powers of sin and death, and how they block access to the presence of God. The atoning sacrifice of Christ culminates in access restored as he ascends into the Father's presence. The gospel includes both Christ's royal and high priestly roles.

Moffitt reminds us that the Ascension is the essential climax of our atonement.

[Aaron Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

It should be noted that this book is actually a series of essays done by Moffitt. This would have been helpful to know before diving into it, but you learn this in chapter one and what follows is essentially the same thought expressed in a variety of ways. It's a good thought that centers the atonement away from strictly the crucifixion which was very profound and I agreed with in many ways, but it becomes endlessly repetitive. I appreciated Moffitt's treatment and appreciation for the Hebrew Scriptures, but one or two essays would have sufficed; a book was unnecessary, and unfortunately the last chapter makes you wonder what you just read. It's like an okay movie with a really bad ending; it makes you think the movie was actually worse than it was.

[Molly S · Rating 4 out of 5]

85% of the book related to how Hebrews deals with the atonement was really fascinating. However I did not prefer the essay collection style, it seemed like a lazy way to organize the book, by avoiding re-writing previous published material in order to synthesize it together as one coherent argument. As for the other 15% or so, Three chapter/essays seemed super out of place and not connected to the rest of the book at all, with no added comments on how they tie into the books overall arguments. I kept thinking, how is this going to circle back? And it just never did. A couple chapters were also slightly hard to follow if you don't know Greek.

The majority of the book was very thought-provoking though, and I would not be mad about buying this for my home library.

[Ryan Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rethinking the Atonement is a collection of essays related to Jesus' atoning work. If you expect "on the cross" to complete that previous sentence, then this is a book you should consider reading. Dr. Moffitt convincingly argues for a slightly different understanding of Jesus' atoning work in light of Hebrews. Specifically, the cross is only part of the work: the shedding of blood outside the tent. The resurrection, ascension, and the intercession of Jesus before the throne of God all come into better focus as part of this work.

Other recent works have successfully argued for understanding the cross, resurrection, and ascension as related to Jesus becoming King. Jesus is both King and High Priest, and Dr. Moffitt completes the picture by tying the story of the gospels to this additional and vital role of Jesus.

The content is a little repetitious due to this being a collection of essays, but I found the repeated content helpful in re-establishing the context. Rethinking the Atonement has given me a lot to consider, and I'm grateful for this fresh perspective of the atonement.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moffitt’s Rethinking the Atonement is a collection of earth-shaking essays that primarily dive into the OT teachings on atonement and how these play out in the book of Hebrews. The careful exegesis and cogent arguments combine to challenge the student of Scripture to a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the process of atonement, escalating the ascension back to its appropriate status as part of the work of Christ and not simply a secondary curiosity of the faith. Three final chapters broaden the discussion to Matthew, Luke and 1 Corinthians. A must have for any serious study of Scripture and Christian theology.

[Logan Prettyman]

Certainly worth understanding him overarching thesis: the atonement occurs not at the cross, but in the heavenly holy of holies (referencing how Levitical sacrifice actually works). I’m not sure what to think, but this thesis will become a hot topic soon among evangelicals.

[Adam Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for students of Hebrews or the theology of atonement through a biblical lens. The essays are very well written and a pleasure to peruse individually or together over the course of a semester.

[Evonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart! Heavily academic and not meant for the average reader. However, once you adjust to the academic style and diction of writing the points made are provocative and significant. Worth the effort.

[Denise Sudbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entirely academic argument, interesting but with little clear bearing on what this means in the present day in day out. It wasn't what I needed, which is not the fault of the book per se.

[DP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking in a places I don't know that I agree.

[Ryan Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly thought-provoking, even where I disagreed.

[Jeroen Pelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book with a lot of great insights.

This book is a collection of essays on atonement, mainly focused on the book of Hebrews. Moffitt's central thesis is that, taking the Old Testament sacrifices seriously, the climax of Jesus' sacrificial atonement is found in His ascension, not in his death. Whereas His death is fulfilling the passover sacrifice and initiates a new covenant, the maintenance of this new covenant (ultimately through yom kippur) is ultimately accomplished by His presenting of Himself to God, as the climax of the Pentateuchal sacrifices is found in presenting the blood (which represents the life rather than death) in Gods presence.

Moffitt does a great job in exegeting the passages, and builds up his arguments very orderly. He does not attempt to construct a coherent doctrine of atonement, but this also does not seem to be his purpose with this book. Despite the many repetitions of his central thesis throughout all the chapters, this book is a very good read, providing a lot of food for thought.

[Chungsoo Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

a paradigm shift

If one reads this book seriously, a paradigm shift will occur: that the cross is no longer the central perspective through which to read the New Testament.

[Christopher Hutson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For too long Christians have been mesmerized by medieval theological categories framed by Anselm of Canterbury and his Satisfaction theory of Atonement. They have proceeded as if Paul's letter to the Romans (read in light of Anselm) were the centerpiece of Christological reflection, to which all other texts are secondary. Moffitt demonstrates the vibrancy of the Christian message when read in light of a more thorough understanding of the ancient Jewish sacrificial system, especially the logic of Yom Kippur (Lev 16). He concentrates our attention on the details of other parts of the NT, most especially on Hebrews, but also giving some attention to Matthew, Acts, and 1 Corinthians. The result is a new appreciation for the Exaltation of Christ and his ongoing ministry as High Priest of the heavenly tabernacle.

[Tyler Carmical · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, this book is so eye opening. Any serious thinking Christian needs to engage with Moffit’s work. Moving past supersessionism and re-attaching Hebrews to a Jewish Apocalyptic world view is essential in understanding the case that the Preacher is making there. I wanted to give this book 5 stars. The first 10 chapters were incredibly eye opening and the arguments made in them so compelling. But the last 3 or 4 were very difficult to get through, likely because I am a layman rather than a scholar who can read Ancient Greek. Regardless, I can easily say this was one of the best books I have read this year.