Peter Abelard (aka Pierre Abelard or Petrus Abelardus, 1079 - 1142) was quite a theological phenomenon in his own day as far as the velocity of his ascent and popularity and his calamitous declension in controversy with Bernard of Clairveaux. More recently, since the 19th century, it is common to ascribe a form of the Moral Influence Theory of the atonement to him in such a way that he becomes a proto-modern reactionary against a substitutionary theory of the atonement. The Moral Influence Theory in broad and, unfortunately, brief terms is that Christ died on the cross as an example of God’s love which evokes a deeper love from us which in turn saves us from our sins. The supposed gain is that theologically we gain salvation without, as many modern feminist theologies assert, “divine child abuse.” Thus, Abelard is enlisted to carry the freight of such theories. And so an immediate series of historiographical questions arise, but two suffice:  (more…)