[1] Abelard focused on changing man's perception of God as not offended, harsh, and judgmental, but as loving.
[1][3] Beilby and Eddy note that Abelard was "challenged in his views by Bernard of Clairvaux, condemned by the Council of Sens (1140), and eventually excommunicated.
Fausto Sozzini's Socinian arm of the Reformation maintained a belief in the moral influence view of the atonement.
[10] During the 18th century, versions of the moral influence view found overwhelming support among German theologians, most notably the Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant.
A number of English theological works in the last hundred years have advocated and popularized the moral influence theory of atonement.