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Bishop Wright and substitutionary atonement

by
07 August 2015

iStock

From the Revd Barry Morrison

Sir, — Bishop Tom Wright has many outstanding qualities, but it is a pity that he describes God punishing Jesus in our place as “a shrunken, misshapen version of the gospel” in his book Simply Good News (Books, 3 July).

We need both the wider understandings that he develops and Isaiah 53.5’s “he was pierced for our transgressions . . . crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Paul does not quote this particular verse, but he does include no fewer than 29 quotations from Isaiah in his speeches and letters.

BARRY MORRISON
11 Lytham Park
Oundle PE8 4FB

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