19th – early 20th century

Subjective and mystical theories of the 19th century: Schleiermacher, Ritschl, Bushnell, Campbell – and Forsyth's response

Schleiermacher completely rejected satisfaction through punishment: Christ is the prototype of man who communicates God-consciousness to others, and his sufferings revealed love; Berkhof calls this a mystical, thoroughly subjective theory. Ritschl, according to González, rejected Anselm's "objective" juridical theory in favor of a modernized version of Abelard's "subjective" theory: it is not God who needs to be reconciled to us but we to him, and reconciliation is corporate and directed toward the Kingdom of God. Horace Bushnell taught that God need not be propitiated – God himself suffered in Christ to win man's love; McLeod Campbell taught Christ's "vicarious repentance"; F. D. Maurice saw Christ as the archetype of humanity; Irving – the gradual purification of Christ's fallen human nature. Forsyth, converted from liberalism, objected: "The love of God is not more real than his wrath", and Christ voluntarily bore God's punishment for sin.