MAPC Five Week Lenten Series
Why the Cross? Taught by the Rev. Dr. Fred R. Anderson, Pastor Emeritus, MAPC
The cross is the central symbol of the Christian faith. It dominates Reformed theology as dramatically as the hanging Celtic cross does in our sanctuary. But why the cross? What happened on it and why?
The ecumenical church has never given a formal answer to that question, though many different Protestant denominations have done so, including Presbyterians and other Reformed churches. That answer is called “Penal Substitutionary Atonement”(PSA). It says Jesus was being punished to satisfy God’s wrath at sin, a substitute for the death you and I deserve because of our own sin. He died in our place to “justify” us before God. The 17th century Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 11.3, locked that doctrine into Presbyterian orthodoxy as well as that of many other denominations.
In the mid 1950’s, Christian theologians began to raise questions about PSA. In 2014, Fred Anderson used the Lenten series to look at those questions and other atonement theories, and began his own challenge of the doctrine that has dominated Protestant atonement theology since the Reformation. Though encouraged by many to develop those Lenten lectures into a book, that had to wait until after his retirement. Thereafter Fred spent six years working on the subject and in December of 2022 published Why Did Jesus Die and What Does That Have to Do with Me? A Biblical and Sacramental Understanding of Atonement, (Wipf & Stock, 2022).
Fred has agreed to lead this year’s five-week Lenten Study—February 21 through March 20— using his book as a resource for the class. Though the book in paperback is available in all the normal distribution places at $44, the church has secured a limited number of copies to be sold at $30. Once the books arrive, we will make them available for purchase.
A light dinner will be served at 6:30 pm in the Parish Hall with the program beginning at 7 pm. Join us as Fred tells us what he learned in his extensive research for the book, why and how PSA is a pagan heresy that made its way into Reformed theology, and how the forgiveness of sin is just half of the Christian gospel.