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The "Substitutionary Atonement" Theology of Bishop Charles E. Bennison
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
June 6, 2011
The disgraced Bishop of Pennsylvania has written an article for a diocesan quarterly publication in which he offers us his views on Christ's death and resurrection. He related it to his two grandchildren, Oliver, 5, and Charlotte, almost 4, as they drove by a cemetery en route for breakfast at a diner.
The dialogue gives insight into what and how much the revisionist bishop believes -- both about the person of Christ, his death on the cross for our sins (Bennison doesn't allow for that), and Jesus' "resurrection" of love, but not his bodily resurrection. It also adds truth to the challenge an Anglo-Catholic priest made to Bennison about what doctrines he could or could not affirm. During his tenure as bishop, Bennison has denied most of the basic tenets of Christianity including the bodily resurrection of Jesus and once wrote that Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself.
The dialogue demonstrates why there will not be another generation of Episcopalians and why young people will feel more comfortable being agnostics or lying in bed on Sunday morning reading the "New York Times". A column by David Brooks, who sees the importance of religion in public life, has more content to it than a Bennison sermon.
Charlotte: Gramps (that's Bennison), are all those people dead?
Grampy (that's Bennison): Yes.
Charlotte: Are they always going to be dead?
Grampy: Yes.
Oliver: Are we always going to be dead, too?
Grampy: Well, we're going to die, but if we believe in Jesus, we will live forever.
Charlotte: Oh. I believe in Jesus.
Oliver: Me, too.
Charlotte: Did Jesus live forever?
Grampy: He is alive right now, but first he had to die.
Oliver: How did he die?
Grampy: The Roman soldiers crucified him.
Oliver: Did they shoot him?
Grampy: No, they hung him on a cross, and he died when he couldn't breathe any longer.
Charlotte: Oh.
Oliver: But he was nice.
Grampy: Oliver, when you are nice to everybody, some people will be mean to you. (Was Charles thinking of himself perhaps?)
Oliver: Oh.
Grampy: Look, at school, some of your classmates don't like Henry, right? And Basti and George and Dillon and Lucas are mean to him. If you are nice to Henry when Basti and George and Lucas and Dillon are mean to him, they will probably be mean to you, too. That's what happened to Jesus when he was nice to everyone, especially the people others don't like.
Oliver: Oh.
Charlotte: Why'd he let people be mean to him?
Grampy: He loved everyone, and they were mean to him. They killed him. But his love lives on forever. That is what Easter is about. If we believe in him, and love like he loves, we can live forever.
Oliver: Oh.
Charlotte: Hey, there's the diner.
Footnote to this story: Following his recent acquittal of 'conduct unbecoming a bishop' due to the statute of limitations at a show trial that found him guilty for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor, Bennison rose to new messianic heights and declared, "I am less anxious about the church's future than I was when I first became bishop...I think I have shared in Christ's crucifixion."
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