| Home > Reading > The Evangelical Alliance's statement on Chalke-gate |
| The Evangelical Alliance's statement on Chalke-gate | | Date Created: Nov 17, 2004, 08:31 AM |
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| Well, just as I was posting my previous blog entry (just below) about work being done here at London School of Theology to clarify what we do and don't mean by Penal Substitution, the Evangelical Alliance was issuing a statement on their official website about their stand on the Steve Chalke book and debate. |
| It's a 5-paragraph statement which I believe misses an opportunity. Paragraph 4 (reluctantly) admits that the model can come across badly and paragraph 2 mentions the EA's intention to set up a special symposium on atonement. These, I think, could have been amplified. Fact is, we've been too vague and lax about what we mean and don't mean by penal substitution and let some pretty nasty views pass; we need to (and we are) cleaning that up. It would have been good to concede more, I think, and acknowledge that the debate Steve has called for is a good thing and should change the face of evangelicalism. |
| More encouraging, however, is that (as I expected) the EA statement nowhere accuses Steve of anything remotely resembling heresy. He is not enjoined to stop preaching other models of the atonement -- they're still happy for him to try to show the world that alternative models of atonement are vastly superior to penal substitution. |
The EA does not demand Steve to change his theology.
The EA requests that Steve stop demanding other evangelicals to change their theology
and that he tries to find room to recognise (not preach) that in evangelical thinking, penal substitution has had a significant positive role and not only a negative one (paragraph 4). |
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