Dear Joe,

In my opinion, you have taken an excerpt from an excellent book coauthored by two men who have a firm grasp on orthodox Catholic teaching.

The Church sees the theology of the Cross as multidimensional; there are many complementary ways of explaining what Jesus' crucifixion does for mankind. I do not think the Church has ever officially accepted some explanations while rejecting others, but perhaps there was a time,
in Church history, when she discouraged the substitution model because it was misunderstood
as needing to satisfy vengeance, or because it was used by some denominations as the only explanation. My colleagues can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think, properly understood,
the Church has ever condemned it.

I have no problem with the Kreeft/Tacelli offering of what Jesus' crucifixion meant for us and for justice and mercy, as long as it's understood that this salvific event has other dimensions of meaning for us too, such as His:

• conquering death, the greatest consequence of original sin, as head of His mystical body (the Church) who will also follow Him, and conquer death.
• winning for the world the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within men in order to heal and elevate.
• divinizing the faithful with supernatural life resulting from the re-union with God that our hearts were originally made for.
• instituting the mystery of the Eucharist, which took His Death and Resurrection to properly accomplish, and
• manifesting to mankind the true essence of God who is pure Love, willing to die for the good of man, His bride, in the eternal covenant that Scripture reveals God has willed from the time of Adam.
  

Peace,

Paul