From the category archives:

Steve Chalke

Easter Wouldn’t Be Easter Without A Row About The Atonement

April 11, 2009

The battle lines continue to be clearly drawn despite the best efforts to be “charitable” to both sides by those who try to occupy the middle ground. In an outrageous newspaper article which only cites one Bible verse and even that out of context, Giles Fraser declares “What vicious God would demand Jesus sacrificed for [...]

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THE ATONEMENT DEBATE – Steve Chalke’s Further Arguments Against Penal Substitution

November 21, 2008

This is the last in my short series on Steve Chalke and The Atonement Debate. The previous posts in this series can be found by clicking on the links below:

Update on Steve Chalke and The Atonement Debate
Steve Chalke Confirms He Does Not Believe in Penal Substitution
Steve Chalke Argues Against Penal Substitutionary Atonement
Steve Chalke and Neglect [...]

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THE ATONEMENT DEBATE – Steve Chalke and Neglect of the Resurrection

November 20, 2008

In his arguments against penal substitutionary atonement (PSA), Chalke parodies what its advocates believe, claiming that, according to those who hold to PSA,
. . .it is Jesus’ death alone that becomes our “good news.” This approach reduces the whole gospel to a single sentence: “God is no longer angry with us because Jesus died in [...]

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THE ATONEMENT DEBATE – Steve Chalke Argues Against Penal Substitutionary Atonement

November 19, 2008

In his chapter in the recent book The Atonement Debate, Steve Chalke begins to argue against penal substitution (PSA). He starts in a surprising, and to me, a deeply concerning way. One of my major concerns about this whole debate is what a rejection of PSA does to our view of the Bible. The concept [...]

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THE ATONEMENT DEBATE – Steve Chalke Confirms He Does Not Believe in Penal Substitution

November 18, 2008

I do want to thank Steve Chalke for the honesty and openness in his contribution to the recent book, The Atonement Debate. He is very bold, and explains his position with far more clarity than I feel he has done before. Reading his chapter was worthwhile as there is much confusion about what Chalke really [...]

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Update on Steve Chalke and The Atonement Debate

November 17, 2008

Somehow I missed a book published earlier this year by Zondervan called The Atonement Debate. The book was described to me as a “cool-headed” approach to the whole debate on penal substitutionary atonement (PSA) that has been raging in evangelicalism since Steve Chalke popularized attempts to dismiss it as a form of “cosmic child abuse.” [...]

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2008 Top Posts Numbers 5 and 6

August 31, 2008

In a sign of just how many preachers read this blog, so far this year the sixth most read post on my blog is a Mother’s Day sermon entitled “Comfort Like a Mother” that I preached earlier in the year.
At number 5 is my initial post on the Steve Chalke controversy. There are several updates [...]

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Replacing UK Evangelical Leader Joel Edwards

June 7, 2008

There is no doubt that it has been a difficult time in the Evangelical movement on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years. There have been numerous arguments about what the definition of an Evangelical should be and how closely we can work together with people who disagree with us about a range of [...]

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5th Most Read Post – Steve Chalke and "The Lost Message of Jesus"

February 12, 2008

No. 5 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on November 21, 2004. I felt like a lonely figure back in 2004 with my strong criticism of Steve Chalke’s views on the atonement. I argued that his words were close to blasphemy at the time. John Piper would subsequently accuse Chalke directly [...]

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11th Most Read Post – The Atonement: Wright Attacks Both Sides of the Debate

January 28, 2008

No. 11 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on April 23, 2007, and examined what is possibly the most controversial article Bishop Tom Wright has ever written. In it, I questioned his ability to criticize some who dismiss Penal Substitutionary Atonement while approving of Steve Chalke, stating his own support for [...]

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25th Most Read Post – PSA: Precious Gospel or Divine Child Abuse?

January 9, 2008

No. 25 on the list of the all-time most popular posts with readers of this blog appeared on July 2, 2007, and summarized some of my series on the atonement. It also included links to a number of other posts on the subject. There were many other posts within this series—the most popular of which [...]

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Review of the Blog – April 2007: Atonement Wars

December 19, 2007

UPDATE – Steve Chalke has expressed his views more fully in a chapter in The Atonement Debate, and I have posted a response to this.
Today I will continue my review of the last year’s blogging which we began yesterday. April was a very interesting month for me on this blog. So much so that it [...]

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Rediscovering Theopedia

August 31, 2007

I have spent a bit of time over the last few days rediscovering Theopedia. It is not quite so frenetic and unstructured as Wikkipedia. This is probably due to its requirement that you acknowledge a statement of faith and be registered before editing items. They are keen for more contributors and if you have good [...]

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Spurgeon on the Atonement

July 5, 2007

Yesterday I shared a quote from Wayne Grudem on the atonement. Today it’s Spurgeon’s turn:
“All the love and acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God belong to you because Christ was perfectly obedient on your behalf. Those who set aside the atonement as a satisfaction for sin also murder the doctrine of justification [...]

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