""In order to adequately address the issues of atonement and christology, we must understand how it is that we think about the relationship between God and the human being. The way in which we understand and interpret the life and death of Jesus and his role within that relationship then impacts our theology of the sacraments, particularly the eucharist. ""Further, the questions continue to confront and be confronted by my inescapable identity as a Lutheran Christian. I use the term 'inescapable' because I find myself working from and with theologies and theologians that are unabashedly critical of patriarchal religious doctrine and paternal theological construction, yet I cannot be convinced that the tradition which formed me is irretrievable or irrelevant. . . . ""I am seeking to use Luther as one of my sources, but I am working to reinterpret him and offer a more adequate constructive alternative that embodies what is useable in his tradition. I find the potential for a liberating message within Christian theology, and I find a critical theological resource in Luther."" --from the Introduction