Just saying that and not listing your supposed “four basic theories” is not very helpful and looking up “four theories of atonement” brings you to the following list of six theories from Wikipedia…
Early Christian notions of the person and sacrificial role of Jesus in human salvation were further elaborated by the Church Fathers, medieval writers and modern scholars in various atonement theories, such as the ransom theory, Christus Victor theory, recapitulation theory, satisfaction theory, penal substitution theory and moral influence theory.
But I wonder if this also partly comes from insisting on using the word “theory” rather than the word “metaphors” (specifically those used in the Bible).
Looking up metaphors for the atonement leads to a smaller list.
Atonement in the New Testament is expressed through metaphors of sacrifice, scapegoat, and redemption to picture the meaning of the death of Christ. The Apostle Paul is the main fountainhead of these soteriological metaphors, but they occur in the other epistles and in Revelation. (from here)
Here is a list of four metaphors which turns out to be an old post of mine in another forum. LOL
The metaphors –
- Judicial: Jesus was punished for our sins in our place.
- Payment: Jesus’ life was a payment of ransom for our liberation.
- Blood Sacrifice: Jesus was the lamb slaughtered to expiate our sins.
- Surgical: Jesus was transformed into our sin so it could be destroyed on the cross.
And from here
Recently our local church has been blessed by a series of sermons entitled “Prism: Metaphors of the Atonement.” Four different speakers presented, over a five week period, Adoption, Reconciliation, Ransom, and Romans.
Looks to me like I am getting an endless number of different lists of such theories and metaphors.