Evangelicals debate Steve Chalke on Jesus

Ekklesia has had a couple of pieces on a new book by Steve Chalke on the doctrine of the atonement, questioning how central penal substitution should be. My interest in this has been to see a couple of NT scholars croppting up. Previously it was Lloyd Pietersen, who I know from the British NT Society. This time it is my friend Simon Gathercole, who does not get a good write-up in this story:

Evangelicals debate Chalke's Message of Jesus

Evangelical scholars including James Dunn, Stephen Travis, Nigel Wright, Clark Pinnock, Robert Brow, Mark Baker and Joel Green, had all questioned the biblical basis of penal substitution, and the importance accorded to it in Evangelicalism - a point made by the Evangelical Alliance.

Opponents of Steve Chalke’s position were given equal time to speak and make their case against the book.

It was however difficult at times to work out what Dr Simon Gathercole, a Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen and Dr Anna Robbins, a Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture at the London School of Theology, were actually saying.