Western Christian theology grew like a rogue branch splitting off the main trunk of the Christian community, like this branch on this tree. Photo credit: O12 | Pixabay.

Introduction

The convictions of God’s Restorative Justice and Jesus’ Healing Atonement rest upon the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity. God is love by nature. The love within God — or the love God is — is the fundamental activity of the divine persons and therefore the fundamental attribute of God. God is fundamentally other-centered, and the biblical story and writings bear witness to God’s creation and redemption being motivated by other-centered love. Divine justice, therefore, must be restorative, not retributive — for the motivation to “satisfy retributive wrath” is a self-centered motivation, and God by definition is not self-centered. By extension, and also based on the biblical witness, Jesus’ work of atonement is a healing of human nature, i.e. a Healing Atonement, or a Medical Substitution, not a Penal Substitution.

Our Theology from Nicaea Study Guide shares some material with the section of our website on God’s Goodness. However, God’s Goodness explores God’s Triune nature in the biblical story and in our understanding as we respond to God. The Theology from Nicaea Study Guide introduces the beginner to the Nicene Creed and also engages the experienced student of theology. It highlights the split between East and West starting with Augustine of Hippo.