Abstract
The doctrine of penal substitution claims that it was good (or required) for God to punish in response to human sin, and that Christ received this punishment in our stead. I argue that this doctrine’s central factual claim—that Christ was punished by God—is mistaken. In order to punish someone, one must at least believe the recipient is responsible for an offense. But God surely did not believe the innocent Christ was responsible for an offense, let alone the offense of human sin. So, the central factual claim is mistaken. In the final section, I show that this critique of penal substitution does not apply to the closely-related Anselmian satisfaction theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anselm (1962). Cur Deus Homo. In St. Anselm: Monologium; an appendix on behalf of the fool by Gaunilo; and Cur Deus Homo (2nd ed., Sidney Norton Deane, Trans.). LaSalle, IL: Open Court Publishing.
Barnett R. (1977) Restitution: A new paradigm of criminal justice. Ethics 87: 279–301
Boonin D. (2008) The problem of punishment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Calvin, J. (1977). Institutes of the Christian religion (Vol. 1, F. W. Battles, Trans.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
Crisp O. (2008) The logic of penal substitution revisited. In: Tidball D., Hilborn D., Thacker J. (eds) The atonement debate: Papers from the London symposium on the atonement. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, pp 208–227
Crisp O. (2009) Original sin and atonement. In: Flint T., Rea M. (eds) The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 430–451
De Brès G. (1689) The confession of faith, of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. Printed by the Widow of Steven Swart, Amsterdam
Dickens C. (1992) A tale of two cities. Random House, New York
Emigrant online: News for the global Irish community (2002). Wexford: Unusual Sanction for Lateness. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.emigrant.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11504&Itemid=25.
Gendin S. (1967) The meaning of ‘Punishment’. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 28: 235–240
Grensted L. W. (1920) A short history of the doctrine of atonement. The University Press, Manchester
Horowitz, D. (2001/2010). Ten reasons why reparations for Blacks is a bad idea for Blacks—and racist, too! (pp. 364–366). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Originally posted on frontpagemag.com, January 3, 2001, (Reprinted from Boonin and Oddie, what’s wrong? Applied ethicists and their critics).
Lewis D. (1997) Do we believe in penal substitution?. Philosophical Papers 36: 203–209
Packer J. I. (1974) What did the cross achieve? The logic of penal substitution. Tyndale Bulletin 25: 3–45
Péry, A. (1963). Heidelberg catechism with commentary. Philadelphia: United Church Press.
Porter S. (2002) Rethinking the logic of penal substitution. In: Craig W. L. (eds) Philosophy of religion: A reader and guide. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, pp 596–608
Porter S. (2004) Swinburnian atonement and the doctrine of penal substitution. Faith and Philosophy 21: 228–241
Quinton A. M. (1954) On punishment. Analysis 14: 133–142
Swinburne R. (1989) Responsibility and atonement. Oxford University Press, Oxford
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (1998). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Torrance T. (1992) The mediation of Christ. T&T Clark, Edinburgh
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kyle, B.G. Punishing and atoning: a new critique of penal substitution. Int J Philos Relig 74, 201–218 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-012-9382-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-012-9382-1