
Dr. Andrew Remington Rillera (PhD, Duke University) is assistant professor of Biblical studies and Theology at the King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta. Dr. Rillera is the author of a very influential book which came out last year called “Lamb of the Free: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understandings of Jesus’s Death.” It’s generated significant buzz, particularly after John Mark Comer recently called it a final biblical exegetical knockout blow to penal substitutionary atonement. Penal substitutionary atonement is the idea that Jesus bore the penalty of our sins when he died on the cross as a substitute, or in our place. Dr. Rillera argues against this atonement theory and argues it lacks solid Biblical evidence. Penal substitution remains a popular atonement theory, endorsed by Dr. Gavin Ortlund @TruthUnites , William Lane Craig, and many others. TheologyU, hosted by Will Bennink (BA, Wheaton College, Mdiv, Harvard University), hosts conversations with Christian academics and authors to discuss their work for a general audience. How does sacrifice in the Old Testament work? How does Jesus relate to the Levitical system? Is Passover a sacrifice?Is Penal Substitution a helpful atonement theory?