The Nature of Truth- What is Unorthodox
Christianity Today reported earlier this week on a brewing theological debate in the UK. It involves a speaker that was considered "unorthodox" in his views because he does not subscribe to the "orthodox" understanding of penal substitution.

Good old C.S.Lewis was probably far more aware than most of us when it comes to thinking about the different interpretations of atonement:

We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed. Any theories we build up as to how Christ's death did all this are, in my view, quite secondary: mere plans or diagrams to be left alone if they do not help us, and, even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself.
--Wikipedia information about atonement. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Atonement".

When I became a Christian at age 15 I never knew there were any other ways of looking at what Jesus did. It was penal substitution. What I later found as interesting is that this is not the oldest or most basic understanding.

In Christian theology, various doctrines of atonement have been advanced in history, all of which give central place to the life and death of Jesus. The classical theory of atonement, widely accepted in the early Church, depicted Jesus as the divine victor in a cosmic struggle with the devil for rights over the human soul. In medieval Latin theology emphasis shifted from the divine to the human side of Jesus. The most widely held theory at this time, often called vicarious atonement, was first stated by St. Anselm in Why God Became Human (1197–98): only human beings can rightfully repay the debt which was incurred through their willful disobedience to God, although only God can make the infinite satisfaction necessary to repay it; therefore God must send the God-man, Jesus Christ, to satisfy both these conditions. Anselm's doctrine, slightly altered or elaborated, has become part of Roman Catholic theology and of that of many Protestant churches. In another theory of atonement emphasis is placed on God's unconditional mercy and on the gradual growth toward union with God as inspired by Christ's selfless example. This theory was given its standard form by Peter Abelard in the 12th cent. Here the juridical concept is replaced by an organic and social concept.
--Columbia Encyclopedia information about atonement The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

When people claim that someone else isn't following the right, ancient, or proper understanding of things - i.e. being unorthodox - I guess the question sooner or later becomes - which orthodoxy? Somehow I think that God simply wants us to follow Jesus and love God. Theology is interesting sometimes.

But now, let's get back to reality- Jesus is Lord. I don't know what all the different theologies say about that- I just know it at this point. And for that I am glad that He doesn't give a theological essay exam at the Final Judgment.

I hope.