Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

23

ATTRIBUTES, DIVINE

is often deterministic, one can be an
atomist and allow for indeterminism.

ATONEMENT, THEORIES OF. Chris-
tian theologians have advanced multiple
accounts of how God brings about an
atonement or at-one-ment with God. A
long standing tradition associated with
Anselm of Canterbury holds that sinful
humanity dishonors God by sin and is
subject to punishment. The ultimate
punishment for sin is death. Because of
humanity’s original sin or perpetuation
of sin, mere human moral and religious
virtue is not able to avoid the deadliness
of sin. Only if God becomes incarnate so
that the perfect Jesus Christ, fully human
and yet fully God, lives a perfect life and
then assumes the punishment of sin can
there be atonement. If God were simply
to cancel the debt or punishment for
sin without sacrifice, there would be no
honoring of divine justice. Because of
Jesus’ suffering and death, Jesus’ sacrifice
is vicarious, taking the place of others.
On this model, sometimes called the
Anselmian or Juridical or Satisfaction
theory, Jesus’ death is substitutionary.
On a subjectivist or exemplar view of
the atonement, Jesus’ life, suffering, death,
and resurrection constitute atonement
between God and creatures when crea-
tures recognize the cost of sin and the
outpouring of God’s self-sacrificing love
in Christ.
Another model, Christus Victor, com-
bines elements of both theories. On this

view, Christ’s birth, life, teaching, passion,

death, and resurrection are to be truly

transforming (as affirmed by the subjec-

tivist account) and Christ’s work also

provides a means by which the penalty of

sin can be overcome through the resur-

rection of the dead. The Christus Victor

model thereby holds (with the Anselmian

theory) that the atonement involves more

than subjectivity, but its emphasis is on

Christ’s providing a means of overcoming

evil (opening the way to an afterlife of

redemption) and not providing a sacri-

fice that placates the Father or substitutes

a perfect innocent life for our own in a

juridical framework. Swedish theologian

Gustaf Aulen (1879–1977) was an impor-

tant recent proponent of the Christus

Victor model. For Eastern Orthodox

Christians, the process of atonement is

consummated by theosis, the transforma-

tion of the soul into likeness to or union

with God.

ATTRIBUTES, DIVINE. In theism,

the chief divine attributes include omni-

potence, omniscience, essential goodness,

omnipresence, necessary existence or ase-

ity, eternity or everlasting, and simplicity.

Attributes that are also represented in

theistic tradition include being worthy

of worship and obedience, immutability

(not subject to change), impassibility (not

subject to passion), beauty, and personality.

“Personality” is controversial; some clas-

sical theists worry that it reflects anthro-

pomorphism, even though traditional