Dr Chris Marshall on restorative justice, shame and atonement theology

This week I get to speak to Dr Chris Marshall, a pioneering scholar working in the intersection of biblical theology and restorative justice. Chris has worked as a New Testament lecturer and lecturer in religious studies. He’s also worked with those involved in the criminal justice system and is the author of 7 books.

In this conversation we talk about restorative justice, shame, and atonement theology. A key point we hone in on, is that there is a variety of language and metaphors that get used in the New Testament to explain what was achieved on the cross, but often we can get stuck only using the judicial language of punishment, rather than all the other language like adoption or new birth. When we focus only on this language it can perpetuate cycles of shame.