The Nature of the Atonement
“The life of Jesus, from beginning to end, is in all its relations to others a life of love. It is love, then, that we have to understand. Without love, there could be no reconciliation, and what we have to discover is how love functions—what it does, suffers, or promises, in relation to man as a being in need of reconciliation to God” (James Denney, The Christian Doctrine of Reconciliation [New York, George H. Doran Company, 1918], 255).
Listen to Pastor John read excerpts from James Denney’s final publication (published after his death) in which he discusses reconciliation “as achieved by Christ” and compares views on the atonement by two renowned pastor theologians, Horace Bushnell (The Vicarious Sacrifice Grounded in Principles of Universal Obligation [New York, Scribner, 1866]) and McLeod Campell (The Nature of the Atonement [London, MacMillan, 1856]).