Dear Friends:
I haven’t been writing essays for this blog for a while. That’s because I’ve been trying to finish my latest book. It’s been over 5 years in the making, but I am almost finished! Within a week or two I will turn it over to my publisher, Cascade Press.
I’d like your help in choosing a title.
This book is about how Jesus saves human beings from everything that keeps us from becoming what we were created to be, that is, true images of God. In traditional terms, Jesus saves from sin, death, and the devil. I argue that the traditional and still popular evangelical doctrine of penal substitution—that God punished Jesus instead of us—is wrong and incomprehensible to our contemporaries, church or unchurched The liberal Protestant theory that Jesus “saves” only through the influence of his example is also wrong. That theory is too weak to deal the power of sin, evil, and death that dominates our world. I argue that Paul—and the church fathers Irenaeus and Athanasius—thought differently about the atonement. They see the atonement as recreating humanity and uniting us to God through Jesus’s life, activity, death and resurrection. The traditional theological terms for this way thinking are theosis—a Greek word meaning the process of becoming God or God-like—and recapitulation. That is, Jesus repeated or summed up the history of broken humanity and got it right. He rewrote history so that—to put it in common speech—it has a happy ending. And that happy ending is that we are raise to such glory that the church fathers called it deification. That is, we are given divine qualities like immortality, glory, and incorruptibility, to use Paul’s list in 1 Corinthians 15.
The titles below reflect my indecision between titles that use the vocabulary of theology and those with more popular appeal.
Titles that appeal to the theologically literate:
- The Second Adam: Atonement Theology Beyond Penal Substitution
- The New Adam: Atonement Theology Beyond Penal Substitution
- The New Adam: Why the Early Church Got the Atonement Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong
- The Atonement: Why Paul, Irenaeus, and Athanasius Got it Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong
Titles that appeal also to the non-theologically literate reader:
- A New Beginning: How Jesus Rescues Us from Sin, Death, and the Devil
- A New Beginning: How Jesus Removes Our Guilt, Heals Our Wounds, Defeats Our Enemies, and Raises Us to Glory
Which of these titles do you think would make someone want to read this book?
Thanks for your help!
RCH
ifaqtheology 
Definitely “A New Beginning: How Jesus Rescues Us from Sin, Death, and the Devil”.
The best of both worlds and cuts straight to the chase! While the book obviously will cover the controversial divide seen in the more theologically literate titles, I’m sure controversy isn’t the point of the book. Since Jesus is, it seems right to focus the title on Him and the basics, and let the other stuff come out in the pages and argumentation.
Glad you’re putting this book out, Professor!
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Thank you Nate! This is helpful. Hope all is well with you!
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I like this one: A New Beginning: How Jesus Removes Our Guilt, Heals Our Wounds, Defeats Our Enemies, and Raises Us to Glory
Seems appealing to the widest array of folks. Which may or may not be what you want!
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I like it too. It has a poetic feel about it. Thanks!
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I fear 1-4 and 2-2 strike me as too wordy. 2-1 is definitely an option as Nate says, but you would have to accept dropping “Atonement” explicitly from the title (i.e., will you reach the audience you want to reach with the book if it is not clear that it is an ‘Atonement book’, as opposed to an ‘evangelism book,’ which 2-1 could sound like?). If that is not acceptable, then that leaves the first three. Out of these, I like 1-3 best, despite it being a bit more wordy. 1-1 and 1-2 exclusively differentiate from Penal Substitution which—though it would probably be eye-catching and sell well—would be somewhat misleading since you also push back to the Moral Influence theory.
If I could nominate a hybrid alternative, you could try: “The Atonement: Why the Early Church Got it Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong”. I think that would combine the virtues I see in the other titles without the tradeoffs.
I ma super excited for this book’s release and to hear your thoughts on this important topic? I love the direction you have sketched out.
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Precisely what I was going to suggest.
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Thanks Mark. We need to do another Zoom meeting soon!
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This is great: “A New Beginning: How Jesus Removes Our Guilt, Heals Our Wounds, Defeats Our Enemies, and Raises Us to Glory”. Your topic will have wide appeal, the title should too!
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Thank you for taking the time to reply!
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I like “A New Beginning: How Jesus Rescues Us from Sin, Death, and the Devil”.
It gets me to thinking even before I see the book.
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Thank you Stan! I’m tired but I really enjoyed thinking this through from so many angles. I hope it will help others. Thanks.
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Which group is your target audience?
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Hi Jenny. Well, I’d like both to read it. But I suppose the bullseye of my target audience is undergraduate and seminary students taking a theology course. Thanks for encouraging me to keep this in mind!
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My vote: “The Atonement: Why Paul, Irenaeus, and Athanasius Got it Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong.” I think it’s light enough for undergrad students not to outright assume it’s a bore (and the idea of controversy might appeal to them), but layreaders will still think it has some deep content.
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i like #3
The New Adam: Why the Early Church Got the Atonement Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong
Looking forward to reading it! Aloha stan frank
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Anything that avoids the following words: ‘atonement theory’, ‘robust’, or ‘flourishing.’ 🙂 So you’re fine whichever of those titles you choose. My preference would be ‘The Atonement: Why Paul, Irenaeus, and Athanasius Got it Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong’.
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Amen! Also…”Toward a ….”
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I like three. – The New Adam: Why the Early Church Got the Atonement Right and Evangelicals and Liberals Get it Wrong I like this though, catchier: The New Adam Atonement: why the early church got it right and we get it wrong yours – randy
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Thanks Randy! I think my editor agrees with the first one. So, that or something close may be the final title. Thanks!
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Congrats, Ron!
I’ve learned that the best marketing makes the reader the hero of the story, and we come to them as a guide with a solution to their problem or question. So I’d say that the last two are the best, I like the last one for its specificity, but it is a little long.
Scholars would probably appreciate #1 or #1, but #3 and #4 follow the marketing guidelines above better.
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I like either of the non-theological ones…appeals to a broader audience.
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Thank you. I believe the message of the book would appeal to a non-theological audience, and getting that message out is important to me. On the other side are two factors: sometimes I underestimate the level at which I write. I am always surprised when people tell me that they find some of my other books dense. Also, publishers like it when books are written so that they can be used as textbooks. I seem unable to write a popular work. My editor and his colleagues will have heavy input on the title. Thanks!
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#2 is my choice for the the non-theologically literate reader: A New Beginning: How Jesus Rescues Us from Sin, Death, and the Devil A New Beginning: How Jesus Removes Our Guilt, Heals Our Wounds, Defeats Our Enemies, and Raises Us to Glory John Westbrook Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you for taking the time to think about this! Yours and the other comments I have received have been very helpful to me in thinking about the title. I am still undecided. But I need to decide soon. Thanks!
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