Substitutionary atonement

Part of a series on
Atonement in Christianity
Theories Classic paradigm
Ransom (Patristic)
Christus Victor (20th century)
Recapitulation (Patristic) Objective paradigm
Satisfaction (Scholastic / Anselmian)
Penal substitution (Scholastic / Reformed / Arminian)
Governmental (Arminian) Subjective paradigm
Moral influence (Mixed)
Moral example (Socinian)
Types
Limited (Scholastic / Reformed)
Unlimited (E. Orthodox / Catholic / Arminian)
v t e

Substitutionary atonement, also called vicarious atonement, is a central concept within Western Protestant Christian theology which asserts that Jesus died "for us",^[1] as propagated by the Western classic and objective paradigms of atonement in Christianity, which regard Jesus as dying as a substitute for others, instead of them.

Substitutionary atonement has been explicated in the "classic paradigm" of the Early Church Fathers, namely the ransom theory,^[2] as well as in Gustaf Aulen's demystified reformulation, the Christus Victor theory;^{[2][note 1]} and in the "objective paradigm," which includes Anselm of Canterbury's satisfaction theory,^[3] the Reformed period's penal substitution theory,^[4] and the Governmental theory of atonement.^{[note 2]}

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