At the very center of the Christian faith is Jesus, a crucified Messiah.
All the wisdom and the power of God have been revealed in him. Apart
from such wisdom and power no genuine Christian experience is possible.
Unfortunately, Western Christianity has been so conditioned by
Constantinian presuppositions that it has failed to take into account
the centrality of the crucified Messiah. It has been far more
preoccupied with worldly wisdom and worldly power than with faithfulness
to the gospel of the kingdom. It has concentrated on the salvation of
the individual soul but has frequently disregarded God’s purpose to
create a new humanity marked by sacrificial love and justice for the
poor. In the classical theories on the atonement, the work of Christ was
unrelated to God’s intention to create a new humanity. Driver here
demonstrates that the covenanted community of God’s people is the
essential context for understanding the atonement. The reconciling work
of Christ creates a reconciling community where all the barriers that
divide humankind break down. Driver’s book is an invitation to look at
the cross, not merely as the source of individual salvation, but as the
place wherein begins the renewal of the creation – the new heavens and
the new earth that God has promised and that the messianic community
anticipates. May many readers heed its message! —C. Rene Padilla, Buenos
Aires