Richard Beck on Metaphors

Richard Beck, writing about the dangers of giving a single metaphor priority when a source gives multiple metaphors (e.g., Scripture), observes the following about penal substitutionary atonement, a notion of the atonement that tends to focus on notions of "purity":

"Specifically, some suggest that penal substitutionary metaphors, read too literally, create a problematic view of God: that God is inherently a God of retributive justice who can only be 'satisfied' with blood sacrifice. A more missional worry is that the metaphors behind penal substitutionary atonement reduce salvation to a binary status: Justified versus Condemned and Pure versus Impure. The concern is that when salvation reduces to avoiding the judgment of God (Jesus accepting our 'death sentence') and accepting Christ's righteousness as our own (being 'washed' and made 'holy' for the presence of God), we can ignore the biblical teachings that suggest that salvation is communal, cosmic in scope, and is an ongoing developmental process. ...As many have noted, by ignoring the communal, cosmic, and developmental facets of salvation penal substitutionary atonement becomes individualistic and pietistic. ...[R]estricting our view to the legal and purity metaphors blinds us to the fact that atonement has developmental, social, political, and ecological implications." (40-41).

Richard Beck, Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality (Cascade, 2011).