Cynthia Crysdale is Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology at the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee. She has a BA in psychology from York University in Toronto, Canada, and an MA and PhD from St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto. She taught for 18 years at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC, before moving to Sewanee, and is the author of several books and articles exploring the topic of atonement.

· For people whose eyes glaze over when questions of salvation/redemption/atonement come up

· Written by a theologian, but with a lay audience in mind

Even theologians have had different ideas about the theology of atonement; how are the rest of supposed to understand it? This book is a good place to start. Crysdale, whose background in both psychology and theology gives her a unique perspective, presents an overview of the history of the theology of atonement, addressing clearly the difficulties around this concept, and bringing us with her to a contemporary understanding.

"Please join me in welcoming an informative, thoughtful, creative, and persuasive book on the atonement. St. Paul and even Anselm's contributions to this multi-faceted doctrine are rendered accessible here. I only wish Crysdale's volume had been available during my fifty years of teaching Anglican theology. Please don't miss reading her contemporary, scholarly perspectives. She has much to teach us."-Fredrica Harris Thompsett, author of We Are Theologians

"No 'doctrine' has more distorted the living of lives called Christian than substitutionary satisfaction theories of the atonement. So thank God we now have Crysdale's constructive account of the atonement that helps us see that we do not need a theory of the atonement because what God has done in the crucifixion is not a violent exchange but rather God's way of befriending his people. I hope that this well researched book will be widely read."-Stanley Hauerwas, author of Without Apology