God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

Description

As Christians we believe that the myriad crises that dominate the world will end. Yet, what we believe the solution to this problem is, is equally scandalous as any human depravity. The Cross, viewed from outside the Christian faith, only adds credence to ostensible belief that sin and violence are the true reality of human existence. Yet, Christian theology insists that the Cross is no mere act of violence but God’s very plan to bring atonement and usher in Shalom. The contradiction to everything rational in the human mind is understandably perplexing-even offensive. In
God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom
Graham A. Cole argues that
shalom
captures the true essence of the term “atonement” and that therefore standing as the central goal of Christ’s death was the atonement or reconciliation of Christ with all things. But this is no trite expression of the human conception of peace as the absence of conflict, or state of mind. Rather shalom, or what is effected through the atonement (i.e. what the biblical definition of peace is), is a concept “in which God’s authority and power over his created order are seen to dominate his relations with his world, including both the material and human spheres” (21). The New Testament word for peace eirene adapts this Hebrew meaning into its semantical domain while adding to it the concept of enjoyment. Thus, the biblical sense of peace is the recognition and enjoyment of God’s rule over his created order within the relationships of all that is created. In this book you will discover what peace is, and when this is done, we will understand how to achieve it truly, not superficially.