Controversy
In 2003 Chalke co-authored The Lost Message of Jesus with Alan Mann (Zondervan). This book provoked considerable controversy within evangelical Christian circles. The debate arose mostly because of Chalke's rejection of a conventional evangelical theological understanding of the atonement known as penal substitution. Chalke's views drew much criticism as well as support, with numerous articles, blogs and books being written on both sides of the debate.
The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue. A record of this symposium includes a chapter by Chalke and his views are also contained in "the atonement debate". A group of three conservative evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith. However, the prominent Anglican Open Evangelical theologian and former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, endorsed Chalke as a leading evangelical and spoke out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that ‘despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical.’
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