In religion, atonement is "a spiritual concept which has been studied since time immemorial in Biblical and
Kabbalistic texts", Concepts in religion include: •
Atonement in Judaism - the process of causing a transgression to be forgiven or pardoned. In
Rabbinic Judaism, people achieve atonement through
repentance, sometimes followed by some combination of
confession, restitution, tribulations (unpleasant life experiences), the experience of dying, or other factors. • Another aspect of atonement is the occurrence of
Yom Kippur (the day itself, as distinct from the Temple service performed on it), also known as "the Day of Atonement", which is a biblical/Jewish observance. •
Atonement in Christianity, in western
Christian theology, describes beliefs that human beings can be reconciled to
God through
Christ's sacrificial suffering and
death. Atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of
sin in general and
original sin in particular through the suffering, death and
resurrection of Jesus, Throughout the centuries, Christians have used different metaphors and given differing explanations of atonement to express how atonement might work.
Churches and
denominations may vary in which metaphor or explanation they consider most accurately fits into their theological perspective; however all Christians emphasize that
Jesus is the Saviour of the world and through his death the sins of humanity have been forgiven, enabling the reconciliation between God and
his creation. Within Christianity there are, historically, three or four main theories for how such atonement might work: •
Ransom theory/
Christus Victor (which are different, but generally considered together as Patristic or "classical", to use
Gustaf Aulén's nomenclature, theories, it being argued that these were the traditional understandings of the early
Church Fathers); •
Satisfaction theory developed by
Anselm of Canterbury (called by Aulén the "scholastic" view); •
Moral influence theory, a concept that had been developed by the time of
Enlightenment, which Aulén called the "subjective" or "humanistic" view and considered to have been anticipated—as a critique of the satisfaction view—by
Peter Abelard. • Other theories include
recapitulation theory, the "shared atonement" theory and
scapegoat theory. • Additional views include the
governmental view,
penal substitution view, and
substitutionary atonement •
Prāyaścitta, the practice in Hinduism where a person practices rites to undo their sins, such as meditation and pilgrimages. •
Tawba, in Islam where a person has to make up for one's sins against God and anyone they had harmed. • The
Nation of Islam celebrated a
Day of Atonement which the Nation established during the
Million Man March in
Washington, DC on October 16, 1995. The day involved
black men swearing to refrain from
crime,
drug addiction,
abuse, or any form of violence not in self defence. The oath also involved a promise to support black business and artists and avoid misogynistic language. Concepts of atonement also exist in other religious views. For example, in
Native American and
Mestizo cultures of the Americas, "[s]ince sin and guilt are among the principal causes of illness and maladjustment... confession, atonement, and absolution are frequent rituals used in treatment. In some cases, atonement is accomplished through prayer or penance; in others, it may involve cleansing the body, accomplished by brushing the body with branches of rosemary or by sprinkling it with holy water". Concepts of
universal atonement can transcend all religions, as in
unlimited atonement, the doctrine that the atonement is unlimited in extent, and
universal reconciliation, the doctrine that all will eventually come to
salvation.
Twelve-step programs include an atonement or "making amends" phase (steps 8 and 9). ==See also==