SF/F atonement

Here's a post-Easter thought: Christians should take a break from devising cut-and-dried technical, legalistic or systematic accounts of the doctrine of atonement. These should be avoided if at all possible. Instead, Christians should do what the New Testament so often does, and offer stories, metaphors, poetic images, like this:

Seeker: So, what do Good Friday and Easter mean, anyways?

Jane Christian: It's like Gandalf fighting the Balrog, sacrificing his life to save his friends, going down into the depths of Hell to defeat evil, at the cost of his own life. And then coming back, even greater than before, to lead his friends on to victory!

John Christian: That simply isn't Lewisian enough. I prefer to think of it in terms of Aslan's death on the Stone Table - the penalty for Edmund's crime had to be paid, but in order to spare him, Aslan took that penalty upon himself. And in so doing, he subverted, or superverted, the old law of the Deep Magic, because he was an innocent victim, and because in a sense he was the creator of that law in the first place! This broke the old law asunder and ushered in a new age of grace.

Jake Christian: No, no, no... you legalistic Aslantutionary Lewisians! You read a primal blood-thirst, a violence right into God's supreme act of sacrificial love! No, your model is far too limited. The way to go is with Elizabeth Moon, in Oath of Gold, where Paksenarrion the great paladin gives herself up, defenceless, led like a lamb to the slaughter. Her greatest victory is not won by force of arms but by giving herself over to the torturers and killers as the suffering servant, out of love for the victims of violence. Even though the evil ones break her body, they cannot turn her away from love, or cause her to strike back in anger. Thus the ultimate powerlessness of their coercive force is revealed, and the torturers are baffled and defeated by a better, higher way. Paksenarrion is then raised in glory, and-

Jessica Christian: Pshaw! This Paksenarrionism is simply the pathological theology, or, as I prefer to call it, the patheology, which causes so many womyn to stay in abusive relationships with exploitative men, a theology fed to slaves by their masters. No, what you need to read is Cordwainer Smith's "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," in which the oppressed classes rise up in solidarity with a message of love - love for self, and for the oppressor - not a passive love, but a militant, conquering love, embodied in their leader, Joan. Her sacrifice forces the powers and principalities to acknowledge her personhood, her God-given value, and that of all her people, who are caught up in her victory, the victory which is also theirs. Thus the false consciousness is broken, the legitimating ideology of the oppressor is shown to be demonic in origin, and so-

Jenny Christian: No, Superman's death provides the-

Josephina Christian: Neil Gaiman's "The Price" is far-

Jebediah Christian: But Spock, or even Klaatu, are-

Junri Christian: When Nausicaa is resurrected-

Seeker: [Wanders off to read Archie comics as the Christians get embroiled in a shouting match]

Thanks to Mir's Good Friday post for getting me thinking about atonement in sf/f.

Oh, and I found this book on the atonement interesting, if somewhat tough slogging. The whole first section is devoted to defending the idea that metaphors can convey revealed truth as well as or better than systematic theologizing. Only once that is established does the author move on to the various biblical metaphors.