Sacred Roots Workshop

118 Sacred Roots Workshop: Retr ieving the Great Tradi t ion in the Contemporary Church

b. A number of variations (much speculation; many unbiblical notions are not convincing!)

(1) Ransom price paid to Satan in exchange for freeing sinners he held captive

(2) Satan was deceived because he failed to perceive the presence of God (i.e., the deity of Christ) hidden under his flesh.

c. The native language of the Apocalypse, the early Church, and the general sense of Scripture: Christ has come to die for sins, rescind the curse, defeat Satan and the powers, destroy the devil’s works, and to reestablish the reign of God in the earth!

B. Why did the biblical Christus Victor motif lose favor, after nearly a thousand years of acceptance?

1. Aversion to the idea of Satanic rights that God might need to respect

2. Discomfort with the military and battle symbolism it produces

3. Postmodern problems with Satan: cosmological difficulties with defining the Story in terms of malevolent, sentient evil personages which must be subdued

4. Gnawing theodicy issues: if Christ is victor, what has gone wrong with the world?

5. A perceived dualistic framework: God or the Devil understanding, with little room for ambiguities or grayness