The New Divinity
Turns justice into moral government
The problem it faces
Grotius's rectoral sketch was suggestive but loosely defined, and Edwardsean Calvinists needed it to fit a theology centered on God's benevolent aim for the whole moral universe.
The move it makes
They redefine divine justice as general rectitude — God's disposition to do what best serves the moral system. The atonement upholds moral government and makes pardon safe, rather than discharging a retributive debt.
The new problem it opens
Recasting justice as benevolent rectitude arguably changes the subject: it strains to hold the biblical language of wrath and desert, and loosens the tie between the atonement and any individual's guilt even further.
Where this sits
Upstream
- Hugo Grotius refined into