Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross

It's not often that a book is written to answer the "So what?" question, but that's precisely the case with Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross. Inspiration for the book came when Mark Baker and Joel Green wrote Recovering the Scandal of the Cross, an argument against those evangelical theologians and pastors who focused on the penal satisfaction theory of the atonement to the exclusion of other complementary explanations. Readers were struck by their argument, but they asked, "How do we now preach the atonement? And how do we explain the saving significance of the cross when we evangelize?"

Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross, brings together presentations of the atonement given in a variety of contexts, from Africa to suburban Los Angeles, from junior high Sunday school classes to coffee shops. The images and metaphors in the book have been developed by pastors, writers, and theologians.

Contents

1. Contextualizing the Scandal of the Cross -Mark D. Baker
2. Deeper Magic Conquers Death and the Powers of Evil -C. S. Lewis
3. Rising Victorious -Frederica Mathewes-Green
4. Atonement in the Coffee Shop -Chris Friesen
5. A Different Story: Mark 15:21/39 -Debbie Blue
6. Atonement as Drama in a Sunday School Class -Dan Whitmarsh
7. The Forgiveness of Sins: Hosea 11:1/9; Matthew 18:23/25 -Rowan Williams
8. Atonement: A Beach Parable for Youth -Mark D. Baker
9. Made New by One Man's Obedience: Romans 5:12/19 -Richard B. Hays
10. Participation and an Atomized World: A Reflection on Christ as Representative New Adam -Steve Taylor
11. The Cross as Prophetic Action -Brian D. McLaren
12. Naked but Unashamed -Doug Frank
13. The Family Table -Grace Y. May
14. Jesus, the Ultimate Outsider -Mike McNichols
15. A Father's Advocacy -Ryan Schellenberg
16. Present -Luci Shaw?
17. Salvation through the Sacrifice of God's Firstborn Son -Gwinyai H. Muzorewa
18. He Shared Our Aches -Curtis Chang
19. Absorbing the Three D's of Death Steve Todd
20. Go and Do Likewise -Mark D. Baker
    Notes
    Index

As such, the book will appeal to pastors, professors, students, evangelists, youth leaders, and Bible study leaders who want to profit from the theology of the atonement as it applies across the whole spectrum of human experience.
-Publisher.

Publisher Description

Because many modern Christians can offer a reasonable explanation of the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross, they find it hard to understand the confusion displayed by the disciples after the events in the last pages of the Gospels. But if Paul were alive today, he would find it inexplicable that we modern believers are not scandalized by the cross. Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross introduces pastors, church leaders, students, and lay readers to the need for contextualized atonement theology, offering creative examples of how the cross can be proclaimed today in culturally relevant and transformative ways. It makes helpful suggestions on how this vision for a culturally relevant message might be developed. The impressive list of contributors includes writings from C. S. Lewis, Rowan Williams, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian McLaren, and many more who are actively working out just how to make this life-transforming proclamation.