Progressive Disenchantment Atonement

[Teofrastus]

A novel atonement theory is presented wherein Christ acts as a "redemptive trickster," defeating Satan through paradox and cunning rather than raw power.

This framework posits that Satan's initial Fall left creation in a state of partial enchantment under demonic control. Christ, through the Incarnation, initiates a "Second Fall" that culminates in his cry of divine abandonment on the cross. Paradoxically, salvation emerges not from reversing this Fall but from completing it.

Satan maintained power through an enchanted "sacred order" where spiritual forces visibly governed creation. Christ's work dissolves this enchantment, breaking demonic authority. Thus, our modern secular world, governed by impersonal natural laws rather than visible spiritual powers, represents liberation from spiritual oppression rather than divine abandonment.

The world's secularization occurs as a direct result of Christ freeing humanity from the bondage of amoral sacralization. In this disenchanted state, divine connection happens through "dramatic participation" in God's Kingdom within the divine mind, replacing earlier forms of material mediation. This perspective offers a theological framework that validates secularization as part of salvation history while maintaining divine transcendence and avoiding both magical thinking and nihilistic materialism.

Satan's decisive error was failing to foresee that the God‑man's death, by unleashing cosmic disenchantment, would erode the very foundations of demonic power. (More information here.)

 

[Maria Billingsley]

D

A novel atonement theory is presented wherein Christ acts as a "redemptive trickster," defeating Satan through paradox and cunning rather than raw power.

This framework posits that Satan's initial Fall left creation in a state of partial enchantment under demonic control. Christ, through the Incarnation, initiates a "Second Fall" that culminates in his cry of divine abandonment on the cross. Paradoxically, salvation emerges not from reversing this Fall but from completing it.

Satan maintained power through an enchanted "sacred order" where spiritual forces visibly governed creation. Christ's work dissolves this enchantment, breaking demonic authority. Thus, our modern secular world, governed by impersonal natural laws rather than visible spiritual powers, represents liberation from spiritual oppression rather than divine abandonment.

The world's secularization occurs as a direct result of Christ freeing humanity from the bondage of amoral sacralization. In this disenchanted state, divine connection happens through "dramatic participation" in God's Kingdom within the divine mind, replacing earlier forms of material mediation. This perspective offers a theological framework that validates secularization as part of salvation history while maintaining divine transcendence and avoiding both magical thinking and nihilistic materialism.

Satan's decisive error was failing to foresee that the God‑man's death, by unleashing cosmic disenchantment, would erode the very foundations of demonic power. (More information here.)

Does His Holy Spirit have anything to do with your poetic atonement theory? Seems you are missing the whole point of atonement....
Restored Connection.
Blessings

 

[Teofrastus]

D

Does His Holy Spirit have anything to do with your poetic atonement theory? Seems you are missing the whole point of atonement....
Restored Connection.
Blessings

True meaning lies solely in the Kingdom of Heaven, yet its light reaches the hearts of those who know their need. True meaning resides only in the celestial Kingdom. When this truth dawns, it opens the heart to the Holy Spirit. But this light only illuminates the hearts of those who recognize their destitution. As the Spirit works, we are not simply becoming morally superior but learning to embody patterns of heavenly life. We are being prepared for our roles in the cosmic theo-drama.

The Spirit is the Mediator of Presence. He is the one who makes Christ's presence real to believers, not as memory but as living communion. As Illuminator of Meaning, the Spirit interprets divine truth inwardly. He reshapes desires, affections, and consciousness into conformity with heavenly life. Through the Spirit, believers are drawn into the divine drama, not as spectators but as participants.

It's as if Christ grounds the life of faith, while the Holy Spirit animates the spiritual life.

 

[David Lamb]

A novel atonement theory is presented wherein Christ acts as a "redemptive trickster," defeating Satan through paradox and cunning rather than raw power.

This framework posits that Satan's initial Fall left creation in a state of partial enchantment under demonic control. Christ, through the Incarnation, initiates a "Second Fall" that culminates in his cry of divine abandonment on the cross. Paradoxically, salvation emerges not from reversing this Fall but from completing it.

Satan maintained power through an enchanted "sacred order" where spiritual forces visibly governed creation. Christ's work dissolves this enchantment, breaking demonic authority. Thus, our modern secular world, governed by impersonal natural laws rather than visible spiritual powers, represents liberation from spiritual oppression rather than divine abandonment.

The world's secularization occurs as a direct result of Christ freeing humanity from the bondage of amoral sacralization. In this disenchanted state, divine connection happens through "dramatic participation" in God's Kingdom within the divine mind, replacing earlier forms of material mediation. This perspective offers a theological framework that validates secularization as part of salvation history while maintaining divine transcendence and avoiding both magical thinking and nihilistic materialism.

Satan's decisive error was failing to foresee that the God‑man's death, by unleashing cosmic disenchantment, would erode the very foundations of demonic power. (More information here.)

Yet Jesus said:

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Joh 14:6 NKJV)

How does His being the truth fit with being a "redemptive trickster?"


Also, where do you find in the bible that Satan maintained power through an enchanted "sacred order" where spiritual forces visibly governed creation, or that Christ's work dissolves this supposed enchantment?

 

[Teofrastus]

Yet Jesus said:

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Joh 14:6 NKJV)

How does His being the truth fit with being a "redemptive trickster?"


Also, where do you find in the bible that Satan maintained power through an enchanted "sacred order" where spiritual forces visibly governed creation, or that Christ's work dissolves this supposed enchantment?

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul describes wrestling against "rulers," "authorities," "cosmic powers," and "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." In Colossians 2:15, he writes about Christ disarming the "rulers and authorities." In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he refers to the "god of this world" who blinds unbelievers. Evidently, Paul wants to dissolve this enchanted "sacred order," associated with paganism.

In John 14:6, Jesus establishes a new spiritual order, positioning himself as the sole mediator between humanity and the heavenly realm, replacing traditional pagan material mediation. This role of mediator between heaven and earth is a characteristic traditionally associated with trickster figures in world mythology.

Hermes, the archetypal trickster in Greek mythology, serves as messenger between gods and humans. Similarly, Prometheus mediates between Zeus and humanity, bringing civilization and knowledge to mortals by stealing fire from the gods. In Native American mythology, Coyote, despite his mischievous nature, acts as a cultural hero who moves freely between physical and spiritual planes, teaching humans survival skills and bringing tools from the spirit world.

While the comparison may seem unconventional, Jesus shares certain characteristics with these mythological mediators. Like them, he bridges divine and human realms, and like them, he challenges established orders. He rebels against religious conventions, questions traditional authority, and introduces radical new teachings that transform human understanding of the divine.

 

[David Lamb]

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul describes wrestling against "rulers," "authorities," "cosmic powers," and "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." In Colossians 2:15, he writes about Christ disarming the "rulers and authorities." In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he refers to the "god of this world" who blinds unbelievers. Evidently, Paul wants to dissolve this enchanted "sacred order," associated with paganism.

But where does the bible say anything about an enchanted sacred order? The passage from Ephesians is encouraging Christians to use the heavenly armour against the attacks of the devil and his minions. Nothing at all about Jesus being a trickster.

In John 14:6, Jesus establishes a new spiritual order, positioning himself as the sole mediator between humanity and the heavenly realm, replacing traditional pagan material mediation. This role of mediator between heaven and earth is a characteristic traditionally associated with trickster figures in world mythology.

Hermes, the archetypal trickster in Greek mythology, serves as messenger between gods and humans. Similarly, Prometheus mediates between Zeus and humanity, bringing civilization and knowledge to mortals by stealing fire from the gods. In Native American mythology, Coyote, despite his mischievous nature, acts as a cultural hero who moves freely between physical and spiritual planes, teaching humans survival skills and bringing tools from the spirit world.

While the comparison may seem unconventional, Jesus shares certain characteristics with these mythological mediators. Like them, he bridges divine and human realms, and like them, he challenges established orders. He rebels against religious conventions, questions traditional authority, and introduces radical new teachings that transform human understanding of the divine.

Jesus certainly didn't use trickery in His role as Mediator.

 

[Teofrastus]

But where does the bible say anything about an enchanted sacred order? The passage from Ephesians is encouraging Christians to use the heavenly armour against the attacks of the devil and his minions. Nothing at all about Jesus being a trickster.

Jesus certainly didn't use trickery in His role as Mediator.

Paul doesn't literally say "enchanted sacred order," but that's what he's talking about. Paul explicitly addresses the issue of idols and "gods that are no gods!" in 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, where he says that "an idol is nothing at all in the world" and that "there is no God but one." He also returns to the theme in 1 Corinthians 10:19–21, warning that sacrifices to idols are actually sacrifices to demons, not to real gods. So, this enchanted sacred order must come to an end.

Jesus using trickery belongs to the oldest theory of atonement. It was also a popular theme in medieval religious drama. In the Ransom Theory of Atonement, the devil is deceived into thinking he has won, only to be undone by Christ's resurrection. Some Fathers described this as divine deception: Satan took the bait, thinking he had triumphed, but was caught in God's trap.

 

[John Bauer]

A novel atonement theory is presented wherein Christ acts as a "redemptive trickster," defeating Satan through paradox and cunning rather than raw power.

Does this “novel atonement theory” belong to Mats L. Winther (2025)? In other words, is your original post essentially a précis of Winther’s argument? (I did not finish reading Winther’s article because it was too long. As a family man, my time is limited.) Judging by your OP and my partial reading of Winther, it feels influenced by René Girard, particularly Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978)—given the shared emphasis on the collapse of sacral order and the demystification of the powers—but he never cites Girard.

Nevertheless, the proposal carries a distinctly gnostic aroma—e.g., “opposing yet complementary cosmic forces”—not formally, perhaps, but substantively. It is fairly gnostic in structure, logic, and soteriology. That, of course, bothers me. Soteriologically, the fundamental problem is not guilt before God but rather oppression by a sacralized or enchanted order, with salvation being described as release, awakening, or escape—here, “disenchantment.” Metaphysical liberation is a gnostic framing, the cross becoming a cosmic maneuver altering the structure of reality, not an atoning sacrifice that reconciles God and man.

At this point, whatever its rhetorical appeal, the theory has departed from the basic grammar of Christian atonement.

 

[Teofrastus]

Does this “novel atonement theory” belong to Mats L. Winther (2025)? In other words, is your original post essentially a précis of Winther’s argument? (I did not finish reading Winther’s article because it was too long. As a family man, my time is limited.) Judging by your OP and my partial reading of Winther, it feels influenced by René Girard, particularly Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978)—given the shared emphasis on the collapse of sacral order and the demystification of the powers—but he never cites Girard.

Nevertheless, the proposal carries a distinctly gnostic aroma—e.g., “opposing yet complementary cosmic forces”—not formally, perhaps, but substantively. It is fairly gnostic in structure, logic, and soteriology. That, of course, bothers me. Soteriologically, the fundamental problem is not guilt before God but rather oppression by a sacralized or enchanted order, with salvation being described as release, awakening, or escape—here, “disenchantment.” Metaphysical liberation is a gnostic framing, the cross becoming a cosmic maneuver altering the structure of reality, not an atoning sacrifice that reconciles God and man.

At this point, whatever its rhetorical appeal, the theory has departed from the basic grammar of Christian atonement.

I am the author of that article, yes—thank you for your interest. On the same page, I develop a critique of Girard. He rejects all metaphysical assumptions about divinity, and his views therefore diverge from mine. However, he understands secularization not as Christianity's antagonist but as its natural development in modernity. While I agree with this assessment, I argue, contra Girard, that secularization causes the majority to succumb to corrupting forces. It is as though secularization opens the gates to both the Kingdom and Hell.

While there are, on the surface, certain parallels with pagan and Gnostic ideas, I maintain that life is fulfilled on earth—in the earthly Kingdom—through participation in the celestial drama, coinciding with the personal realization of disenchantment. (Remember that the word gnosis is often used positively in the New Testament.) My position therefore differs sharply from Gnosticism, which regards the material world as corrupt or imprisoning. Rather than viewing the world as flawed or evil, I propose, following the Buddhists, to understand it as "empty." This perspective aligns with traditional Christianity's emphasis on detachment from the world.

Emancipation from the enchanted order under Satan's dominion was the earliest atonement model, one to which virtually all of the Church Fathers subscribed. Luther frequently portrays Christ's work as a cosmic victory over hostile powers. This model later fell into relative oblivion. It is known as the Christus Victor theory of atonement—central to Paul and reactualized in Gustaf Aulén's 1930 book.

In this model, the cross is indeed a cosmic event that alters the structure of reality, making the world anew (2 Cor. 5:17: "If anyone is in Christ—new creation! The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."). It is, however, fully compatible with modern atonement models. They do not contradict one another but instead function as complementary perspectives.

 

[David Lamb]

Paul doesn't literally say "enchanted sacred order," but that's what he's talking about. Paul explicitly addresses the issue of idols and "gods that are no gods!" in 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, where he says that "an idol is nothing at all in the world" and that "there is no God but one." He also returns to the theme in 1 Corinthians 10:19–21, warning that sacrifices to idols are actually sacrifices to demons, not to real gods. So, this enchanted sacred order must come to an end.

Jesus using trickery belongs to the oldest theory of atonement. It was also a popular theme in medieval religious drama. In the Ransom Theory of Atonement, the devil is deceived into thinking he has won, only to be undone by Christ's resurrection. Some Fathers described this as divine deception: Satan took the bait, thinking he had triumphed, but was caught in God's trap.

I don't see what Paul says about idols as enchantment. I don't know enough about mediaeval religious drama to know whether Jesus using trickery formed any part of it. Jesus using trickery is something I don't see taught in the bible,

 

[Teofrastus]

I don't see what Paul says about idols as enchantment. I don't know enough about mediaeval religious drama to know whether Jesus using trickery formed any part of it. Jesus using trickery is something I don't see taught in the bible,

Paul's understanding of idolatry, especially in 1 Corinthians 8–10, presents idols as entangled with demonic powers that pose a genuine spiritual threat to believers. On the one hand, Paul insists that idols are nothing. In 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, he affirms that "an idol has no real existence." Yet idolatry nevertheless involves real spiritual powers. In 1 Corinthians 10:19–21, Paul writes: "[W]hat pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons." Thus, although the idol itself is ontologically null, the cultic practice of idol worship establishes real spiritual communion—not with non‑existent deities, but with demons.

Paul conceptualizes demonic enchantment through the language of participation (koinonia). Just as the Eucharist creates communion with Christ (10:16–17; 10:21), pagan sacrifice creates communion with demons. The parallel is striking: Christian worship establishes genuine fellowship with Christ, while pagan worship establishes genuine fellowship with demonic powers.

This mechanism of demonic enchantment operates specifically through cultic participation. The danger lies not primarily in the food or drink itself, but in participation in the ritual context. Eating in an idol's temple (8:10) or sharing in a sacrificial feast creates spiritual bonds that implicate the worshiper in demonic communion.

Paul situates idolatry within a broader cosmology of hostile spiritual forces. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he describes "the god of this world" as blinding "the minds of unbelievers." Demonic powers operate through deception, holding humanity captive in ignorance of the true God. Enchantment thus involves cognitive captivity as well as spiritual bondage. Similarly, in Ephesians 2:2, Paul refers to "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." Idolatry belongs to a larger system of domination characteristic of the present evil age.

For Paul, conversion entails disenchantment—the breaking of demonic bonds. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, he describes the Thessalonians as those who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." This turning signifies liberation from the powers previously exercised through idolatry.

Paul ultimately interprets the cross as a cosmic victory. In Colossians 2:15, Christ "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them." The crucifixion and resurrection together mark the decisive defeat of the demonic powers that held humanity captive through idolatry and cosmic domination. It is therefore clear that Paul understands idol worship, and participation in pagan cultic meals, as a form of demonic enchantment.

The biblical grounding of the so‑called "divine deception" motif requires theological extrapolation from texts concerning demonic ignorance (1 Corinthians 2), imagery of cosmic victory (Colossians 2; Hebrews 2), and the paradoxical reversal in which death is defeated by death itself. In 1 Corinthians 2:6–8, Paul speaks of the ignorance of the "rulers of this age," who crucified Christ without understanding God's hidden wisdom and thereby unwittingly effected their own defeat. Gregory of Nyssa famously develops this theme: the devil, perceiving only Christ's humanity and failing to recognize his divinity, swallowed the "bait" of human flesh and was caught by the concealed "fishhook" of divinity.

 

[John Bauer]

Question: Are enchantment and disenchantment defined strictly in demonic terms? In other words, is there such a thing as divine enchantment for you?

 

[Teofrastus]

Question: Are enchantment and disenchantment defined strictly in demonic terms? In other words, is there such a thing as divine enchantment for you?

As I argue in the article, divine enchantment can serve as a safeguard against demonic enchantment, echoing Paul's warning that "you cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons" (1 Cor. 10:21). The Eucharistic presence provides spiritual immunity, reinforcing Paul's claim that Holy Communion displaces pagan festivals.

Yet because both forms of enchantment share the same underlying dynamic, celebrants remain vulnerable to relapse into demonic enchantment—a danger tragically illustrated by the witch craze of early modern Europe.

This problem has become immense today. Many are captivated by what can only be described as demonic teachings—woke ideology, LGBTQ doctrines, climate cult, and other forms of political religion. These frenzied movements are making incursions into the churches themselves. Even the pope's endorsement of mass immigration now appears to pave the way for the erosion of our Christian heritage. Increasingly, Christians fall under demonic influence.

Disenchantment is more urgent today than in Paul’s time, since Christian worship no longer grants its former immunity.