"Violence and the cross" (ABPnews Blog post)

My post "Violence and the cross" appears today on the ABPnews Blog. I'll post the full text here in a few days; in the meantime, here's a snippet from the midst of the post:


....Some common ways of understanding how the cross of Christ reconciles us to God portray God as one who engages in redemptive violence. Human virtue reflects the divine character, so if the cross reveals the justice of a violently redemptive God, it stands to reason that people are justified when they fight violence with violence.

The cross is undeniably violent. But who is responsible for the violence of the cross event?...

(Read the full post on the ABPnews Blog)