Part of a series on |
Atonement in Christianity |
---|
Theories
|
Ransom (Patristic) |
Christus Victor (20th century) |
Recapitulation
|
Satisfaction (Scholastic / Anselmian) |
Penal substitution (Scholastic / Reformed / Arminian) |
Governmental
|
Moral influence (Mixed) |
Moral example (Socinian) |
|
Types |
Limited (Scholastic / Reformed) |
Unlimited (Amyraldism / Arminianism / Protestantism) |
See also |
Christian universalism |
The ransom theory of atonement is a theory in Christian theology as to how the process of Atonement in Christianity had happened. It therefore accounts for the meaning and effect of the death of Jesus Christ. It is one of a number of historical theories, and was mostly popular between the 4th and 11th centuries, with little support in recent times. It originated in the early Church, particularly in the work of Origen. The theory teaches that the death of Christ was a ransom sacrifice, usually said to have been paid to Satan, in satisfaction for the bondage and debt on the souls of humanity as a result of inherited sin.[1]