Penal-Substitution Obsession in Chinese Evangelical Theology Textbooks
An observation of the treatment of atonement models within Chinese evangelical education
I did some research this past term into systematic theology textbooks available in Chinese. Systematic theology textbooks in Chinese currently overwhelmingly place the doctrine of “justification by faith” in the center of their descriptions of “gospel.”
Alistair McGrath's textbook Christian Theology, currently on its 6th edition, it is available in Chinese in its only 1st edition from 1998, speaks to a lack of popularity with this text. McGrath does describe multiple models of atonement without forcing any one model on the reader:
The Cross as a Victory
The Cross and Forgiveness
The Cross as a Demonstration of God's Love
However, the more popular Chinese textbooks emphasize penal substitutionary atonement as central, which may still be used in Chinese churches and seminaries:
Christian Theology by Millard Erikson: A whole chapter is dedicated to calling penal-substitution as “central” to atonement, and another chapter calling alternate atonement models as mere “theories”
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem: Neglects other models of atonement to place the focus on penal substitution in his chapter “The Atonement.”
Moody Handbook of Theology by Paul Enns: The soteriology chapter labels other models atonement as “false theories” while categorizing the “correct meaning of the atonement” as “the death of Christ is its substitutionary character.”