The Great Divide

Описание: Why did the Christian understanding of the cross change so drastically after a thousand years of church history?

The pivotal shift around 1100 AD that moved the Church away from the restorative models of the early fathers toward the legalistic, retributive framework of the Middle Ages, without an emphasis on scripture.

The Historical Shift (Pre-1100 vs. Post-1100)

For the first millennium, the Church viewed the work of Christ through the lens of restorative justice. Models like the Restored Icon and Recapitulation emphasized that God, motivated by love, came to heal and rescue humanity from the bondage of sin and death.

This changed when Anselm of Canterbury introduced the Satisfaction Theory. Influenced by the feudal system of the High Middle Ages, Anselm reimagined sin not as a sickness to be healed, but as a legal debt that robbed God of His honor—a debt that must be paid through punishment.

Two Competing Views of God

The "Great Divide" boils down to a fundamental question: Can God freely forgive the repentant?
• The Early Church View: God is a Father who "abundantly pardons" and seeks to restore His image in man.
• The Penal Substitutionary Atonement View: God is a strict judge who cannot forgive unless He first collects a debt or punishes a substitute.

#Theology #ChurchHistory #Atonement #BiblicalStudies #AtonementTheories #HistoricalTheology #TheGreatDivide #JusticeVsMercy #SubstitutionaryAtonement #Christianity