High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Atonement is a doctrine that describes how human beings can be reconciled to God. In Christian theology the atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, which made possible the reconciliation between God and creation. Within Christianity there are, historically, four main theories for how such atonement might work: the ransom theory/Christus Victor, the satisfaction theory, the penal substitution theory and the moral influence theory.