SOURCE: Chazelle, Celia M. “To Whom Did Christ Pay the Price? The Soteriology of Alcuin's Epistola 307.” Proceedings of the PMR Conference 14 (1989): 43-62.

In the following essay, Chazelle outlines Alcuin's rejection of the theory of the atonement, which states that Christ's Passion was a ransom he paid to Satan in order to liberate mankind.

Towards the end of his life, Alcuin wrote a letter to his emperor and friend, Charlemagne, concerning the significance of Christ's Passion. The letter, epistola 307 in Ernst Dümmler's edition of Alcuin's letters,¹ focuses on Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 6.20 that man's salvation was “bought with a great price,” and seeks to answer the question of to whom Christ is properly said to have made such a payment. Alcuin states that his letter was prompted by a request from Charlemagne for comments on the teachings of a Greek doctor et magister visiting the Carolingian court, who...