Penal Substitution, Christus Victor, and an Orthodox Theology of the Atonement
Did Christ die to bear a penalty, to defeat death and the devil, or to heal a wounded humanity? This study takes up the long debate over the atonement with care for every side. It engages penal substitutionary atonement and its critics, the Christus Victor tradition, and Truglia’s presentation of the Byzantine model of “economic atonement,” testing each position against the original texts of the Septuagint, the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament, against one another, and against the witness of the Fathers. The result is an Orthodox synthesis in which sacrifice, victory, healing and penalty belong together: Christ is victorious precisely as Victim, and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit share one will in accomplishing the mystery of our salvation.
At a glance
- Paperback, 380 pages
- Published November 8, 2026
- ISBN 979-8908580793