The Crucified King: Atonement and Kingdom in Biblical and Systematic Theology.
Haughey, John C.
The Crucified King: Atonement and Kingdom in Biblical and
Systematic Theology. By Jeremy R. Treat. Grand Rapids, Ml: Zondervan
2014, Pp. 305. $26.99.
The volume sets out to answer several questions 1 never had. The
first is about how to link the atoning death of Jesus with the kingdom
of God. Simply put, I had believed that because "Jesus died for our
sins," we have access to the kingdom of God. The second is a timing
question, namely, "when did Christ's victory decisively
happen?" This volume began as a Wheaton College dissertation under
the esteemed director Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Treat proposes that Christ is
King through the penal substitution he underwent on the cross on behalf
of sinners.
T. seeks to persuade the reader that it was on the cross that Jesus
made the kingdom a possibility, and that other moments, such as his
incarnation, life, resurrection, and ascension, are all inadequate for
answering the question of when his victory occurred. While T. makes a
fine case, straightforwardly answering the question as he does seems too
narrow a way forward. Appealing to the whole narrative of Jesus seems to
me to be a more satisfactory way to address the question rather than
squeezing it into a particular moment.
That said, the book itself is an edifying read because of T.'s
thorough knowledge of Scripture. But according to T., it is on the cross
that Jesus undertakes "penal substitution"--that is, on the
cross Jesus "endured and exhausted the destructive divine judgment
for which we were otherwise inescapably destined and so won for us
forgiveness, adoption and glory" (175). This focus of eradicating a
destructive divine judgment seems too reductionist for the second Person
of the Blessed Trinity becoming one of us. It jeopardizes the good news
of the infinite love of Father, Son, and Spirit that Jesus came to
preach and enact. Understanding the reign of God as
"cruciform" is the most creative part of the book.
DOI: 10.1177/0040563914565315
John C. Haughey, S.J.
Colombiere Jesuit Community, Baltimore
