Book Review: Atonement for a Sinless Society

Alan Mann, in Atonement for a ‘Sinless’ Society, applies narrative from theological, therapeutic, and liturgical vantage points to a chronically shamed culture. In sum, Mann presents the ontologically coherent narrative of Jesus as the invitation to the chronically shamed individual to join the bonded community of the church, which enjoys “mutual, intimate, undistorted relating” (19) through the Eucharist. Mann unpacks this thesis over four sections.

First, Mann’s analysis of contemporary hamartiology unmasks the prevalence of shame in a society that believes in neither sin nor guilt, offering it as a more accurate category for the sin experience of the “post-industrialized.” Shame has a double-edged effect on society. While countered with deep, mutual relationship, shame leads individuals to present “cover stories” of the self, to hide their real identity (81), thus negating the possibility of relationship. Further, contemporary society encourages self-realization, so that sin, if it exists, is failing this attainment. As a result, the post-industrialized self, looking in the mirror, says, “Against you alone have I sinned” (21). Though considered “virtuous,” such self-serving attitudes negate mutual relationship—the very thing needed to combat chronic shame. Mann believes we need a “more biblical account” of sin that speaks “about the atonement as a restoration and reconciliation between relational beings, both human and divine, who too often live with an absence of mutual, intimate, undistorted relating” (49).

In section two, Mann unpacks narrative therapy vis-à-vis shame. The chronically shamed individual, who feels they are “utterly deficient as a human being, incapable of maintaining…self-coherence and inner-relatedness” (32), needs a counter-narrative. Because the chronically shamed presents a false-self (or an “ontologically-incoherent self,” which describes the fundamental nature of narrative to personhood), a coherent counter-narrative must be presented, accepted, and abided in by the individual. Such counter-narratives are presented by “Other(s),” whom the chronically shamed avoids. Mann suggests that listening to the narratives of the chronically shamed, may produce intimacy (88) by providing a sense of accountability and allowing a merger of narratives. This merger of narratives is a conversion—a reconsideration of a person’s identity by reworking their personal narratives (90). Christian salvation includes such conversions around Jesus Christ’s narrative.

But how is this salvific? How does Jesus save? Mann, in section three, presents his answer: the Jesus’ narrative is salvific/atoning, because Jesus is at-one with himself; Jesus’ obedience to Golgotha shows “mutual, undistorted, unpolluted relationship” with his Father (112). Jesus refuses to present a false-self, and presents an ontologically-coherent self, providing hope that the chronically shamed can be liberated from their own narratival incoherence (113), to enjoy similar relationship with God. The cross displays Jesus’ bravery by his literal and figurative exposure—something the chronically shamed avoids at all costs. Here Jesus’ at-one-ment with his story is revealed (136-37). Participating in this story makes the individual ‘at-one.’

In section four, Mann examines the Eucharist as an act in which the counter-narrative of Jesus might be indwelled. First, it connects the individual’s story with God’s story. Jesus’ narrative, displayed in the Eucharist, calls the celebrants to reorient their lives with Jesus’ story (159-60), so that as individuals may enjoy mutual, undistorted, unpolluted relating, as well. The Eucharistic table, then, mirrors the symbolism of the cross (167).

Atonement for a Sinless Society is both theologically creative and practical. Mann’s work takes seriously contemporary culture, attempting its intersection with atonement theology. The category ‘chronic shame’ facilitates Mann’s desire for a “new Pentecost” (2), facilitating better speakers and listeners in this culture.

In spite of these plusses, its abstractness hinders encouraging evangelistic believers to nuance their spiritual conversations with unbelievers and can lead to rhetorical flourish. For example, Mann writes,

…as Jesus stretches his arms out along the crossbeam, he is…symbolically holding together his own story and ‘exposing’ his real-self without fear of incoherence or…chronic shame that haunts the postmodern self; for he is, at this moment, ‘at-one’ (136-37).

Such rhetoric risks ignoring and abstracting the physical pain of the cross. This may be connected to Mann’s belief that atonement is “concerned above all” with mutual relationship rather than “appeasing…a God angered by the misdeeds of his creatures” (94). However, Mann does refer to Jesus’ “substitutionary death” (144)—one that demands our own response—and does not deny penal substitution explicitly. Overall, Mann’s deep concern for shame leads to his abstract reflection of the cross.

Mann’s concern, however, overemphasizes individuality. Mann writes, “The self-stories [the post-industrialized] tell, which isolate them from meaningful, human interface, effectively turn them into a-moral or, perhaps more accurately, pre-moral, beings.” This pre-morality also means they are pre-social (53). Contra Mann (and Rousseau), the pre-social individual is nonexistent. No individual has ever emerged into being by herself, but is always produced by another human; birth is necessarily social. Without community, the shamed individual could not learn a language by which to express their story and so any telling is already influenced by some community.

In all, Mann has written a valuable book for contemporary atonement studies, certainly pertinent to an upper-level undergraduate course on evangelizing post-moderns. While its abstractness forces a careful read, this practice may develop listening skills for conversing with the chronically shamed who struggle to concretize personal narratives. Therefore, Mann’s work will benefit those at the intersection of counseling/therapy and theology, and those interested in a psychologically sensitive praxis of atonement.