Abstract
In this volume, Asle Eikrem offers a systematic theology of sacrifice, intended to answer three central questions: (1) whether (and how) God’s action in Christ can be thought of as an expression of sacrificial love, (2) whether the proper human response to God can be thought of as an expression of sacrificial love, and, (3) whether sacrificial love can serve as an ethical ideal for relations between human persons. The book is nicely organized, beginning with a broad and insightful (not to say uncontestable) examination of the history of sacrificial theologies, followed by a helpful analysis and summary of recent critiques and defenses of the concept of sacrifice (chapters 2–4). The central chunk of the book is structured around the three questions mentioned above, with several chapters devoted to the first question (chapters 5–9), and one each devoted to the second two (chapters 10 and 11). The book concludes with a reflection on whether we can hope for an end of self-sacrifice in the created order (chapter 12).
Eikrem provides lucid analysis of several concepts related to self-sacrifice, including victimization, self-limitation, self-destruction, and self-giving. Eikrem locates self-sacrifice as distinct from victimization because it is voluntary, and between self-limitation and self-destruction. Self-sacrifice involves only a temporary loss of goods constitutive of one’s personhood, with the purpose of preserving the relationships between oneself and others, including their capacity to live a good life. This analysis enables Eikrem to arrive at answers to his central question. First, there is no self-sacrifice of Christ to God, because within the Trinity there is no loss of goods constitutive of the Son’s personhood, not even temporarily. Instead, humanity needed Christ to accept a human death into God’s being (albeit not necessarily by being murdered) in order to reveal death as something within God, removing the need for humans to fear it. Jesus’ death, therefore, is self-giving, not self-sacrificial. Similarly, the relationship between humanity and God should be thought of as one of mutual self-limitation rather than self-sacrifice. In relations between human persons, however, self-sacrifice is sometimes how we express love for one another, because sometimes it is the best available path for securing the good life for others. Self-sacrifice is justifiable, however, only on the presupposition that death is not the end of human existence; otherwise, it would amount to self-destruction.
Eikrem’s criterion for answering these questions in a satisfactory way involves a principle of coherence between the account of sacrifice and a variety of philosophical, theological, and moral considerations. Overall, he presents a persuasive case, for his conclusions give his criterion, but the extent to which one will be persuaded by his account will depend on how much one shares his judgments about the requirements of coherence. For example, in Eikrem’s judgment, we must reject the Chalcedonian view that Christ is one person in two distinct and unconfused natures (one mortal and one immortal). Instead, we must think of Christ’s humanity and divinity as mutually constitutive—only thus can we say that God truly died on the cross and took up death into God’s own being. A Chalcedonian theologian will agree that God died on the cross, in that the Son’s human life really did end. She will not agree, however, that she needs to cease thinking of Christ’s humanity and divinity as distinct and unconfused in order to say this coherently. This difference will affect how a theologian committed to Chalcedon evaluates Eikrem’s conclusions: for the Chalcedonian, Christ really did temporarily give up a good constitutive of his person (namely his own life) out of faithfulness to God.
That said, Eikrem consistently engages the most important figures representing views he disagrees with, and he gives a good sense of the reasons for his disagreement. Additionally, the book is full of insightful analysis of a remarkably broad set of issues related to sacrifice in Christian theology. It will prove a useful volume to scholars interested in these issues, regardless of whether they share Eikrem’s fundamental commitments. God as Sacrificial Love is an impressive and sophisticated piece of technical theology, appropriate for specialists in systematic theology and related fields. It could be read fruitfully in an advanced graduate-level seminar on the theology of sacrifice or atonement, but the level of technical precision, and the scope of ideas and thinkers engaged, would likely present significant challenges for beginning graduate students.