The award is given by the PWG each year for the best first book published the previous calendar year by a Presbyterian writer. The award was established in 1996 by an endowment from the late Jim Angell.
Love’s book ― Love, Violence, and the Cross: How the Nonviolent God Saves Us through the Cross of Christ ― was chosen from among 19 entries published in 2010. It was published by Cascade Books/Wipf and Stock.
“The central theme of this book is to articulate an alternative to the prevalent ‘penal substitutionary atonement’ interpretation of the crucifixion,” the Angell Award judges stated. “It presents a competent challenge to substitutionary atonement, a reasonable presentation of two modern theological alternatives, and a fair, good effort to create an alternative view of the crucifixion with the framework of Christian orthodoxy.”
In submitting his book, Love said: “The book attempts to explain how God can save us through Christ’s actions, including his death on Good Friday, in ways that make sense to people in the pews, and in ways that support perceiving God as non-violent. It makes use of stories from literature, movies, history and the news to bring theological ideas to life.”
Love holds M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and is a minister member of San Francisco Presbytery. He said he attends First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, Calif. (near the SFTS campus) “when I am not teaching in Bay Area churches.”
He will be leading a weeklong exploration of his book for recent seminary graduates at Zephyr Point Conference Center at Lake Tahoe in mid-July.
