Could God have saved us other than by the cruel death of his son?

In this companion volume to his classic work on the personal identity and nature of Christ, The Shape of Christology, John McIntyre provides a study of Soteriology, the theology concerned with salvation through the death of Christ.

Soteriology has developed in a very different way from Christology. The personal identity and nature of Christ were authoritatively defined in the early Creeds, and later reflection has frequently been enriched by the use of non-biblical metaphysical concepts. In Soteriology, on the other hand, the atonement never achieved the same canonical status (perhaps because there were no early controversies in this field to provoke an attempt at definition); nor was it common to seek outside the New Testament writings for other concepts or models of salvation.

John McIntyre explores and explains these remarkable differences. He pays particular attention to the history of the eucharistic liturgy. He argues for retaining all the various possible biblical models of salvation rather than for a selective approach, since none can be eliminated without diminishing the implications of Christ's death, and each has a part to play in pastoral counselling.

In this study of the fundamental, questions of Soteriology, John McIntyre makes a further significant contribution to contemporary theological discussion.