Controversial theology

One of the joys of my role here at the Century is running point on our letters to the editor section. I read every letter we receive and respond to nearly all of them (note: I’d love to hear your responses to our articles; send them by email to [email protected]). It is always enlightening and enjoyable to read thoughtful replies to our writers’ ideas.

Every once in a while, a piece comes along that polarizes our readership. One of these was a Voices column in our August issue: Rachel Mann’s critique of substitutionary atonement theory. While this theory seems to be universally embraced in the evangelical world of my past, even serving as a litmus test for true faith, in the mainline Protestant context there appear to be a variety of responses to it. We published only a few of the letters about this article in our September issue (which subscribers can download here).

We have other new content that is great, if less controversial. J. Y. Lee explores the work and legacy of Christian peacemaking activist AJ Muste. Jessica Hooten Wilson, in a book reviewed by Erik Hoeke, makes the case for Christians to see reading as a form of holy play. Our readers, when they’re not writing letters to the editor, sometimes write essays in response to one-word prompts; this time, the theme was “wind.” Plus more below!

Email me: What do you think about substitutionary atonement theory?

Jon Mathieu
[email protected]

Atonement without participation?

“I sense that, ultimately, substitutionary atonement is an idolatrous account of redemption.”

AJ Muste’s Christian nonviolence

“Martin Luther King Jr. told Muste’s biographer that ‘the current emphasis on nonviolent direct action in the race relations field is due more to AJ than to anyone else in the country.’ Linguist and activist Noam Chomsky christened Muste an ‘intellectual par excellence’ and ‘one of the great figures of 20th-century America.’”

Christians should read books

“Jessica Hooten Wilson invites Christians to return to their bookish roots and recover reading as a spiritual practice.”

review by Erik Hoeke

In the Lectionary for August 27 (Ordinary 21A)

I find it comforting to realize that Jesus recognizes the incompleteness of Peter’s understanding.

Wind: Essays by readers

Our latest “Readers Write” is on the word WIND. With support from the Frederick Buechner Center.

The Dead

“To hear you must listen with the ears of
your heart, the way you listened as a child . . .”

poem by Sarah Rossiter