I once thought that perhaps the flaw of each theory in isolation was its isolation. They all contained truth of the Atonement and the difference was their focus. But this is only partially true. Each theory does point to biblical truth, but this is because all the theories are based on the same Scriptures. They all have the same source and they all accept the same text as being true. So, I asked myself why the difference. I believe the difference can be narrowed to how they viewed the problem of, or the need for, redemption.
I think that while we typically look to the early church as a model, we also tend to discount their worldview and believe we have the advantage because we can look back through the corridors of time. We have the advantage of two thousand years of study, scientific discovery, technology, and archeological finds. Information is at our fingertips, at our beck and call, while they had only bits and pieces, deprived of the whole.
But what if their worldview was in many ways correct? Scripture was, after all, delivered through that world. Theirs was the point in time through which Christ would come incarnate. It was under their guard that Christ would bear our sins, suffer and die.
What if we are wrong to impose onto Scripture a Western mindset? What if this was the mistake of other theories as well; that they took the “plain teachings of Scripture” because it was plain to their understanding without considering it was foreign to the world through which the New Covenant was introduced?
These ideas are what sparked interest, for me, in the topic. And reading Scripture while consciously avoiding (to the best of my ability) reading into it things I had presupposed led me to change my view of the Atonement. To me the amazing thing was how incumbered Scripture was when shackled by what I had carried into the reading. The gospel comes through, which is a miracle of the gospel, but other things are clouded.
I am certain that I still carry ideas and presuppositions into Scripture. We have certain ways of thinking, certain ideologies, and a specific worldview. They start to form how we see the world since the time we first begin to learn.
I thought perhaps this board would be a good place to look at how each theory is influenced by various worldviews and presuppositions; to examine the theological development of these ideas about the Atonement.
That is the intent of this thread – not defending one theory over the rest, but looking at how each developed and what possible influences exist.