Atonement: Its Changing Theological Meaning and Influence

The aim of this article is to first investigate the history of the English usage of “atonement” as a theological term and the confusion caused by it, uncovering the cause of this confusion. Secondly, it examines how the original interpersonal concept of the term was lost and explores the recovery of the original concept and its influence. Finally, it introduces the fact that the concept of personality was lost in Japanese translation and highlights its contemporary issues. The term “atonement,” originally created as a translation of the Latin word “reconciliation,” lost its connection to its original concept. This article demonstrates that the cause lies in the history of English Bible translation. Firstly, it confirms the understanding of the term as translated by William Tyndale. Tyndale originally used atonement to mean “recovery of a relationship between people” in the New Testament, but the Old Testament uses the same word to mean “expiation.” However, the Bible translators after him starting with translation of the Old Testament, were likely not aware of the theological intent in its Old Testament use, and automatically limited its use to “expiation”. Then, it acknowledges that due to the limited use of atonement in the King James Version and the Geneva Bible, which adopted only the passages used by Tyndale in the Old Testament, the personal concept of reconciliation was lost from atonement and was replaced with the word “expiation.” Furthermore, it confirms that this understanding of atonement has persisted in Bible translations to this day. However, it points out that since F. D. Maurice, related concepts have been reintroduced, leading to a flourishing of theological studies on atonement. Finally, it reports that a similar process has occurred in Japanese translation. This study offers a valuable contribution to modern theology of the atonement.