The kingdom of God and the atonement are two of the most important themes in all of Scripture. Tragically, theologians have often either set the two at odds or focused on one to the complete neglect of the other. In The Crucified King, Jeremy Treat demonstrates that Scripture presents a mutually enriching relationship between the kingdom and atonement that draws significantly from the story of Israel and culminates in the crucifixion of Christ the king. As Israel’s messiah, he holds together the kingdom and the cross by bringing God’s reign on earth through his atoning death. The kingdom is the ultimate goal of the cross, and the cross is the means by which the kingdom comes. Jesus’ death is not the failure of his messianic ministry, nor simply the prelude to his royal glory, but is the apex of his kingdom mission. The cross is the throne from which he rules and establishes his kingdom. Using a holistic approach that brings together the insights of biblical and systematic theology, this book demonstrates not only that the kingdom and the cross are inseparable, but how they are integrated in Scripture and theology.

Serving a Crucified King speaks to a growing crisis within the contemporary church, one of misplaced allegiance and misguided discipleship. If Jesus Christ is who we claim him to be, then we must ask ourselves: Are we truly conducting our lives and constructing our communities in light of that astonishing reality? But, as long as the contemporary church continues to act in a manner so seemingly at odds with the mission and message of Jesus, it remains in a state of emergency. Albeit a serious charge, solving this crisis is of the utmost importance if we are to live once again in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ as king. The magnitude of the problem necessitates the establishment of a movement of kingdom citizens devoted to the cruciform reign of Christ and committed to a wholesale transformation in thinking and practice within the church. To this end, Serving a Crucified King is a clarion call back to the real work of being a disciple of Jesus in our society. Expect to have your thinking challenged, your heart moved, and your action re-oriented.

Jesus died, not peacefully in bed, but on the cross, the instrument of execution used by the Romans to keep potential disturbers of the established political order in their place. Until the pioneering work of Jürgen Moltmann, the cross has been the “elephant in the room” in Christian political theology. This book explores the difference Jesus’s crucifixion makes (or should make) to Christian political theology, by examining the crucifixion in the theologies of the Mennonite John Howard Yoder and the liberation theologians Leonardo Boff and Jon Sobrino. In the light of the cross and of the kenotic God revealed by the cross, questions of political power are explored, and a kenotic political ethic outlined. In conclusion, suggestions are made as to how the contemporary church can live out a cruciform, or cross–shaped, political spirituality and ecclesiology.

Rev. version of the author's thesis (Ph.D) -- University of Cambridge, 2000.

Few treatments of the death of Jesus Christ have made a point of accounting for the gruesome, degrading, public manner of his death by crucifixion, a mode of execution so loathsome that the ancient Romans never spoke of it in polite society. Rutledge probes all the various themes and motifs used by the New Testament evangelists and apostolic writers to explain the meaning of the cross of Christ. She shows how each of the biblical themes contributes to the whole, with the Christus Victor motif and the concept of substitution sharing pride of place along with Irenaeus's recapitulation model.

A timely and challenging collection of essays on Jesus Christ through the perspective of the slaves and the struggles of African Americans today.