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Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues
A thoughtful and provocative collection, in the vein of the intellectual spiritual classic The Weight of Glory, from N. T. Wright, the influential Bishop, Bible scholar, and bestselling author widely regarded as a modern C. S. Lewis.
An unusual combination of scholar, churchman, and leader, N. T. Wright—hailed by Newsweek as “the world’s leading New Testament scholar”—is not only incredibly insightful, but conveys his knowledge in terms that excite and inspire Christian leaders worldwide, allowing them to see the Bible from a fresh viewpoint. In this challenging and stimulating collection of popular essays, sermons, and talks, Wright provide a series of case studies which explore how the Bible can be applied to some of the most pressing contemporary issues facing us.
Helpful, practical, and wise, Surprised by Scripture invites readers to examine their own hearts and minds and presents new models for understanding how to affirm the Bible in today’s world—as well as new ideas and renewed energy for deepening our faith and engaging with the world around us.
An unusual combination of scholar, churchman, and leader, N. T. Wright—hailed by Newsweek as “the world’s leading New Testament scholar”—is not only incredibly insightful, but conveys his knowledge in terms that excite and inspire Christian leaders worldwide, allowing them to see the Bible from a fresh viewpoint. In this challenging and stimulating collection of popular essays, sermons, and talks, Wright provide a series of case studies which explore how the Bible can be applied to some of the most pressing contemporary issues facing us.
Helpful, practical, and wise, Surprised by Scripture invites readers to examine their own hearts and minds and presents new models for understanding how to affirm the Bible in today’s world—as well as new ideas and renewed energy for deepening our faith and engaging with the world around us.
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
358 people are currently reading
1827 people want to read
About the author
N.T. Wright
420 books2,783 followersN. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England (2003-2010) and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline NBC, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air, and he has taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford universities. Wright is the award-winning author of Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Last Word, The Challenge of Jesus, The Meaning of Jesus (coauthored with Marcus Borg), as well as the much heralded series Christian Origins and the Question of God.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
April 27, 2024
Some great nuggets of wisdom here but the writing style was so hard for me to follow.
December 22, 2023
[review removed as it no longer reflects my beliefs]
November 23, 2021
I think this is the best book for anyone new to Tom Wright to read. Written with strong convictions and a heavy pastorally tone, this is a great sample platter of the thought and theology of one of Christianity’s greatest minds. Each essay is beautiful and concise. The fact that he wrote it with an explicitly American audience in mind should make it even higher on the list of “must-reads” for American Christians interested in theology. Highly recommend.
October 28, 2020
Wright, N. T. Surprised by Scripture. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.
This book is quintessential N. T. Wright: bold, witty, and 75% correct. It’s not so much that he is wrong in some areas, but that he is correct largely in places besides the main point. This will become evident in the review below.
He begins with a good summary of why adherents of religion and science think they are at war with each other. He suggests that both are trading off of Epicurean presuppositions.
His chapter on the historical Adam might make some nervous, and this is where he is correct in places besides the main point. He bemoans the binary dichotomy of “Young Earth Creationism” OR “naturalistic evolution.” He suggests that theistic evolution can account for a loving Creator’s placing two hominids in the Garden to get his plan going.
I’m going to cut the binary even further: why does the choice now have to be between scientific naturalism and theistic evolution? Why can’t it be between old earth creation and scientific naturalism? He doesn’t say.
Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?
Different ways of knowing: historical and scientific. Wright’s argument is that these ways of knowing interlock in certain ways (Wright 42).
Plato thought that a belief was a second-order way of knowing. It exists between knowing and not-knowing. In modernity, however, belief takes on a weaker status.
Women Ordination
As always, his side comments are more interesting than his main point. In any case, I can probably concede the case that Junia is a person, which means she is an apostle. I think the Greek supports that. Here is the problem: he is trading on legitimate insights that allow for a larger place for women in the church, but he is using those insights to quietly usher in ordaining priestesses and women bishops. I don’t think he is being nefarious. I think he is just unaware.
The take on Mary and Martha is interesting. Mary’s behavior was shocking because women were not supposed to sit and the feet of a teacher. Someone who sat at the feet of a teacher was an apprentice.
9/11 and Evil
Really good chapter. Shows how any theodicy must take the Resurrection and New Creation into account.
Good quotes:
Creation theology: “instead of a man-made temple with the statue of a god inside it, we have a heaven-and-earth world with the image of God within it” (141).
Wisdom: wisdom sees the knowing process as part of a larger integrated system (158). Jesus is wisdom become human and is bringing about the re-integration of the cosmos (Eph. 1:10).
Conclusion
If you have read his big book on the Resurrection and/or Surprised by Hope, there isn’t much here that is new. Still, it is well-written and even when his conclusions are wrong, his analysis of the problem is usually quite good.
This book is quintessential N. T. Wright: bold, witty, and 75% correct. It’s not so much that he is wrong in some areas, but that he is correct largely in places besides the main point. This will become evident in the review below.
He begins with a good summary of why adherents of religion and science think they are at war with each other. He suggests that both are trading off of Epicurean presuppositions.
His chapter on the historical Adam might make some nervous, and this is where he is correct in places besides the main point. He bemoans the binary dichotomy of “Young Earth Creationism” OR “naturalistic evolution.” He suggests that theistic evolution can account for a loving Creator’s placing two hominids in the Garden to get his plan going.
I’m going to cut the binary even further: why does the choice now have to be between scientific naturalism and theistic evolution? Why can’t it be between old earth creation and scientific naturalism? He doesn’t say.
Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?
Different ways of knowing: historical and scientific. Wright’s argument is that these ways of knowing interlock in certain ways (Wright 42).
Plato thought that a belief was a second-order way of knowing. It exists between knowing and not-knowing. In modernity, however, belief takes on a weaker status.
Women Ordination
As always, his side comments are more interesting than his main point. In any case, I can probably concede the case that Junia is a person, which means she is an apostle. I think the Greek supports that. Here is the problem: he is trading on legitimate insights that allow for a larger place for women in the church, but he is using those insights to quietly usher in ordaining priestesses and women bishops. I don’t think he is being nefarious. I think he is just unaware.
The take on Mary and Martha is interesting. Mary’s behavior was shocking because women were not supposed to sit and the feet of a teacher. Someone who sat at the feet of a teacher was an apprentice.
9/11 and Evil
Really good chapter. Shows how any theodicy must take the Resurrection and New Creation into account.
Good quotes:
Creation theology: “instead of a man-made temple with the statue of a god inside it, we have a heaven-and-earth world with the image of God within it” (141).
Wisdom: wisdom sees the knowing process as part of a larger integrated system (158). Jesus is wisdom become human and is bringing about the re-integration of the cosmos (Eph. 1:10).
Conclusion
If you have read his big book on the Resurrection and/or Surprised by Hope, there isn’t much here that is new. Still, it is well-written and even when his conclusions are wrong, his analysis of the problem is usually quite good.
June 22, 2014
Since falling in love with the works of N.T. Wright over a year ago, I have recognized in his works how the overarching theme in all his works (that with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the new creation has begun to break into our world, that God has declared himself the king of this new world, and that we as Christians are called, as his image-bearers, to reflect His goodness in all things and to share the Gospel with everyone) has a political dimension to it. Sometimes Mr. Wright has touched upon this in his more recent popular works, but usually has chosen to do so in a tangential way. In this book, Mr. Wright begins to articulate more fully how the message of the Gospel challenges the world and its underlying philosophies. Mr. Wright points out how modern Western pop culture, in America especially, has adopted the Epicurean thought of the Enlightenment. Epicurean meaning that God, or the gods, are probably far off (if they exist at all) and have very little to no effect on our day to day lives, so we shouldn't worry about them at all. Mr. Wright ties this in with Europe's implicit and America's explicit split government and religion as well as culture's split between science and religion. In this series of essays, Mr. Wright makes a powerful case for taking up the thoughts of the Old Testament Jews and New Testament believers, where faith and public service were not as divided as they are today and science was used to explore the intricacies of God's created world, not used to proclaim the death of God. Each chapter comes from a speech or essay that Mr. Wright wrote in the past and has been edited for this book to give some thematic flow and it mostly works. As with any work of collected essays/speeches, this book can seem a little disjointed at times, but Mr. Wright and his editors have done a fantastic job of trying to tie it all together. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how revolutionary the message of the Gospel is even in our modern world and how the message of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is still the message that the world needs to hear.
June 17, 2014
A true mixed bag. Some chapters were very good, and a number of them were lame. The three stars is therefore an average.
September 26, 2021
Reviewing an anthology of essays is difficult. I can say some things that cover the whole of the book: Wright's prose is, as always, a pleasure to read. I hear his voice in my head as I read, which is also nice. He's usually thorough, always clever, and even when he's wrong he's worth listening to. That said, not every essay here is equal. Here are my brief thoughts on each chapter:
1. Healing the Divide Between Science and Religion
4/5 - Anti-climactic conclusion that raises more questions than it answers. The gaps are mostly filled in by later essays.
2. Do We Need a Historical Adam?
3.5/5 - There seems to me less difference between what he says here and typical conservatism than even he seems to think himself.
3. Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?
5/5 - Strong historical argumentation and deep reflection on faith and epistemology.
4. The Biblical Case for Ordaining Women
3/5 - A good example of conservative egalitarianism. Sober exegesis, though he places too much weight on contextually-based speculation. He did not address every text I would have wished. His treatment of 1 Tim 2 is impressive.
5. Jesus is Coming--Plant a Tree!
5/5 - EXCELLENT! Thoroughly and convincingly argued from Scripture. Emphasis on Rom 8 is especially helpful--and makes great sense of that passage in its literary context.
6. 9/11, Tsunamis, and the New Problem of Evil
4/5 - Good big-picture stuff.
7. How the Bible Reads the Modern World
4/5 - Largely a retread of chapter 3, but with greater detail on his "love epistemology" which makes it worthwhile.
8. Idolatry 2.0
3.5/5 - More retread, but with added insight into modern idolatry in our religious vacuum.
9. Our Politics Are Too Small
4.5/5 - A refreshing call to integrate both the spiritual and public elements in the gospels. Reminded me of Bavinck and Kuyper.
10. How to Engage Tomorrow's World
5/5 - Wright lays out a biblical paradigm for the relation of church and state. Historically informed and damningly critical of much of American evangelical, which has allowed itself to be shoved off in a corner.
11. Apocalypse and the Beauty of God
4/5 - A helpful vision for the role of artists in the Church as those who critique the present age and announce the age to come.
12. Becoming People of Hope
3.5/5 - Less remarkable than the other essays. This quote is excellent, though: "Precisely because forgiveness is forgiveness and not mere tolerance, it must go with an implacable refusal to collude with sin, with violence or prejudice or spite, with pride or greed or lust, with any of the things that deface and corrupt God's good and beautiful creation."
1. Healing the Divide Between Science and Religion
4/5 - Anti-climactic conclusion that raises more questions than it answers. The gaps are mostly filled in by later essays.
2. Do We Need a Historical Adam?
3.5/5 - There seems to me less difference between what he says here and typical conservatism than even he seems to think himself.
3. Can a Scientist Believe in the Resurrection?
5/5 - Strong historical argumentation and deep reflection on faith and epistemology.
4. The Biblical Case for Ordaining Women
3/5 - A good example of conservative egalitarianism. Sober exegesis, though he places too much weight on contextually-based speculation. He did not address every text I would have wished. His treatment of 1 Tim 2 is impressive.
5. Jesus is Coming--Plant a Tree!
5/5 - EXCELLENT! Thoroughly and convincingly argued from Scripture. Emphasis on Rom 8 is especially helpful--and makes great sense of that passage in its literary context.
6. 9/11, Tsunamis, and the New Problem of Evil
4/5 - Good big-picture stuff.
7. How the Bible Reads the Modern World
4/5 - Largely a retread of chapter 3, but with greater detail on his "love epistemology" which makes it worthwhile.
8. Idolatry 2.0
3.5/5 - More retread, but with added insight into modern idolatry in our religious vacuum.
9. Our Politics Are Too Small
4.5/5 - A refreshing call to integrate both the spiritual and public elements in the gospels. Reminded me of Bavinck and Kuyper.
10. How to Engage Tomorrow's World
5/5 - Wright lays out a biblical paradigm for the relation of church and state. Historically informed and damningly critical of much of American evangelical, which has allowed itself to be shoved off in a corner.
11. Apocalypse and the Beauty of God
4/5 - A helpful vision for the role of artists in the Church as those who critique the present age and announce the age to come.
12. Becoming People of Hope
3.5/5 - Less remarkable than the other essays. This quote is excellent, though: "Precisely because forgiveness is forgiveness and not mere tolerance, it must go with an implacable refusal to collude with sin, with violence or prejudice or spite, with pride or greed or lust, with any of the things that deface and corrupt God's good and beautiful creation."
October 11, 2014
If you have read much of NT Wright nothing in this collection is likely to surprise you as it really involves the themes and perspectives he has been developing in his last few books. It is, however, interesting to see him use this lens to explore a variety of topics in smaller chapters.
Wright's theme throughout is how Western Christians have allowed the modern mindset of rationalistic and epicurean approaches to culture and knowledge shrink their faith into an internal personal belief disconnected from public life and history. Conservative fundamentalists have attempted to lock everything down into totalistic doctrinal systems and then use that as a cudgel in the culture wars. Liberals have so disconnected the faith from historical context and events, and from the specific stories of scripture, that their spiritualized, personal approaches threatens to float away into vague moralism.
Wright, in contrast, wants to use what historical research might teach us, and read scripture as its authors intended rather than with the philosophical assumptions of the modern age. He seeks to navigate between the fundamentalism of the right and the vague spiritualism of the left. Sometimes this comes off as a nearly impossible threading the needle, or as if only Wright has tried to find this balance, but I think Wright is largely on track in that the future lies not in rejecting either history or meaning but a more historically informed, culturally engaged, and story driven faith.
Wright's theme throughout is how Western Christians have allowed the modern mindset of rationalistic and epicurean approaches to culture and knowledge shrink their faith into an internal personal belief disconnected from public life and history. Conservative fundamentalists have attempted to lock everything down into totalistic doctrinal systems and then use that as a cudgel in the culture wars. Liberals have so disconnected the faith from historical context and events, and from the specific stories of scripture, that their spiritualized, personal approaches threatens to float away into vague moralism.
Wright, in contrast, wants to use what historical research might teach us, and read scripture as its authors intended rather than with the philosophical assumptions of the modern age. He seeks to navigate between the fundamentalism of the right and the vague spiritualism of the left. Sometimes this comes off as a nearly impossible threading the needle, or as if only Wright has tried to find this balance, but I think Wright is largely on track in that the future lies not in rejecting either history or meaning but a more historically informed, culturally engaged, and story driven faith.
February 10, 2017
Intellectually overwhelming while presenting one question yet answering another in just about every chapter. There were plenty of worthwhile components to this assembly of talks given by Wright. It would be a 3.5 for me overall but Goodreads doesn't do half stars. I came away wanting more conclusive thoughts.
April 10, 2016
A collection of essays in which N. T. Wright tackles contemporary issues through the lens of scripture. Most of the essays were worthwhile reading. Some of the issues include: ordaining women, science and religion, politics, art and the apocalyptic, and others. As is typical of Wright, he weaves the theological and philosophical foundations that undergird popular culture and society and addresses them through the Christian faith's emphasis that Jesus has fundamentally changed history and the world. As such, it calls for us to live out resurrection.
August 1, 2025
I've read enough Wright to make some observations. In the beginning I found him difficult to understand (you'll even find some critiques in my early reviews of his long-winded, stream-of-consciousness style). I no longer feel this way. I understand him perfectly well, and yet I'm still often "surprised" by what he says (to play off the title of the book). I've been a Christian for 30 years now, and most of that was under the watchful wing of American evangelicalism. NT Wright is anything but an American evangelical. He says things that challenges my reformed rearing. Sometimes I agree with him. Sometimes I don't, but I have to admit. Most times his viewpoint matches the way the word really seems to work. Maybe I'm picking up on Wright's longwindedness, but mostly I'm just trying to say that I've benefited from his writing.
April 18, 2023
One of the things that I like about N.T. Wright is that he takes concepts that are taken for granted in the church culture and he pulls them out into the light to see if the cultural belief actually matches up with what the Bible is saying. He delves into the original languages, culture, and history, rather than taking the English translations at face value. In this book, each chapter is a different topic based on one of his sermons. Every single one is well-researched, with excellent scholarship. They are all relevant topics for our day and very thought-provoking. They are also very dense. I took forever to get through this book because I wanted to give each chapter the attention it deserved. It was sometimes a slog, but well worth reading.
April 9, 2021
“Once you get the resurrection straight, everything else eventually falls into place.” (207)
And I think that quote summarizes so much of Wright’s theology, borne out all through his work and here again in this collection of essays.
In some ways, these short pieces could function as a great introduction to Wright’s ideas, though I also think that someone unfamiliar with his work may find it too shorthand or brief in spots. Having read his other writing helps you hear these shorter essays within his larger framework. His essays on science and politics I found particularly helpful.
And I think that quote summarizes so much of Wright’s theology, borne out all through his work and here again in this collection of essays.
In some ways, these short pieces could function as a great introduction to Wright’s ideas, though I also think that someone unfamiliar with his work may find it too shorthand or brief in spots. Having read his other writing helps you hear these shorter essays within his larger framework. His essays on science and politics I found particularly helpful.
July 12, 2022
The first NT Wright that I’ve read, with some essays excellent and others missing the mark for me. The essays in science and religion, whether a scientist can believe in the resurrection, idolatry, apocalypse and beauty, and hope were very good, and in some ways prescient of the wave of post-modernism and deconstruction as well as fundamentalism and tribalism that we see today. Wright calls the church to engage on its own terms and not capitulate to culture. It is a high calling that is fraught with danger, but one that is sorely needed in my opinion. I’ll finish with maybe my favorite line from the book:
“The idea that they [Christian artists]have a vocation to reimagine and reexpress the beauty of God, to lift our sights and change our vision of reality— is often not even considered.”
“The idea that they [Christian artists]have a vocation to reimagine and reexpress the beauty of God, to lift our sights and change our vision of reality— is often not even considered.”
Read
June 3, 2021This little book is challenging on many levels. I had to read it alongside my Bible and dictionary, but I'm glad I did. I'm looking forward to delving into other topics he has written about. The Bible is not just a ancient text that is not applicable to my life, but rather a living Word, that God uses in all traditions and throughout every generation to speak to His people.
September 22, 2022
A collection of essays, Wright's fresh but biblically based approach to topics such as science, the arts, and women in the Church is enjoyable to read. Epicureanism is Wright's recurring enemy. This is a book I'll have to come back to.
April 16, 2023
4.5 stars
I think this was one of my favorites I've read by N.T. Wright so far. It reminded me a lot of his podcast, where he responds to common questions about Christianity and culture, but with more detailed responses.
I think this was one of my favorites I've read by N.T. Wright so far. It reminded me a lot of his podcast, where he responds to common questions about Christianity and culture, but with more detailed responses.
October 28, 2019
I loved the concept and execution of this book! It is hands-down the best piece of literature I have read recently by any Christian apologist & historian. I love Wright's ability to simultaneously stick by the principles of his tradition while at the same time being pretty critical of that same tradition.
August 31, 2015
This is a collection of essays/speeches on various topics Wright revamped for book form. The uniting theme of the book is the way Enlightenment thought has permeated modern Western culture and subtly affected thinking in regards to science, religion, and politics in ways many do not realize. Wright addresses many "sticky" contemporary issues and challenges Christians to not just accept common thought, but really try to figure out what the God of the Bible thinks on these issues.
As each chapter related to a different topic and was originally directed at different audiences, I found them to vary in the way they got me thinking and how much I got out of them. But they definitely all got me thinking. Some of the essays felt very heady and the conclusions for some (particularly the science ones) felt so deep as to be a bit vague. Others I found highly readable and on point, especially those on politics and engaging modern culture. And others I felt like I had already read (which is my fault since I have already read Simply Jesus and I'm in the middle of Wright's exhaustive tome on the resurrection). A very good read if you want to address some of the blind spots of Western culture and subtle negative ways Enlightenment thought has influenced modern culture. Feel free to skip around and just read the essays of most interest to you. They are in no specific order, and I felt that some of the best were toward the end.
As each chapter related to a different topic and was originally directed at different audiences, I found them to vary in the way they got me thinking and how much I got out of them. But they definitely all got me thinking. Some of the essays felt very heady and the conclusions for some (particularly the science ones) felt so deep as to be a bit vague. Others I found highly readable and on point, especially those on politics and engaging modern culture. And others I felt like I had already read (which is my fault since I have already read Simply Jesus and I'm in the middle of Wright's exhaustive tome on the resurrection). A very good read if you want to address some of the blind spots of Western culture and subtle negative ways Enlightenment thought has influenced modern culture. Feel free to skip around and just read the essays of most interest to you. They are in no specific order, and I felt that some of the best were toward the end.
June 10, 2014
Short Review: variety of articles bundled together in a new book. On the whole, these are mostly issues that Wright has dealt with more fully in his full length books. But there are a couple of issues that are either new or better dealt with here, particularly his chapter on Women in Ministry and his take on Epicureanism. Because of Wright's style (long narrative to explain why many traditional readings are missing the actual point of the issues because of a lack of understanding of the original writer(s), readers or culture) these shorter (15-20 page) chapters means that he spends a lot of time referring the reader to his books for a fuller picture.
It is not that this is a bad book, just that if you have read a lot of Wright (as I have) then you will be disappointed that these shorter takes are less helpful than his longer works. (If I had the option, I would give it a 3.5 stars)
Click through for the full review on my blog http://bookwi.se/surprised-by-scripture/
It is not that this is a bad book, just that if you have read a lot of Wright (as I have) then you will be disappointed that these shorter takes are less helpful than his longer works. (If I had the option, I would give it a 3.5 stars)
Click through for the full review on my blog http://bookwi.se/surprised-by-scripture/
July 26, 2022
Definitely one of Wright's least helpful books, in my opinion, but not because the content is ultimately bad. Rather, almost every essay here has been covered in a monograph length work outside of this volume. Some essays even say that the current essay was directly adapted from another book! There is a lot of helpful information here, and if you're not well-read in Wright's literature, you will learn a lot from reading this book. If you want bite-sized previews of other books, this one would be a good choice. But if you're interested in learning the ins and outs of his theology, I recommend reaching for at least a full-length, even popular level, book.
January 3, 2016
There were two great lines in this book. One comes from the pen of Wright:
"The Bible is not about the rescue of humans from the world but about the rescue of humans for the world."
The other comes from the mouth of a taxi driver:
"What I always say is this: if God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, everything else is basically rock 'n' roll, i'n'it?"
What I found most surprising about this book was not any Scriptural insights on contemporary issues, but how its essential content could be summed up in two Facebook posts.
"The Bible is not about the rescue of humans from the world but about the rescue of humans for the world."
The other comes from the mouth of a taxi driver:
"What I always say is this: if God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, everything else is basically rock 'n' roll, i'n'it?"
What I found most surprising about this book was not any Scriptural insights on contemporary issues, but how its essential content could be summed up in two Facebook posts.
August 1, 2019
This is a meaty little book, some parts so good I reread entire chapters to make sure I got it all. The good Anglican Bishop examines how the Bible addresses contemporary issues. I do not agree with every point here, but the author draws no hard dogmatic lines, and is gracious and generous in everything he writes. We need a little more of that today. Certainly an expert in the ancient text, as well as the signs of our times, I cannot imagine another thinker doing a better job with this.
June 13, 2016
It's been a year between reading NT Wright's work, which has been too long. There is some overlap and the chapters aren't put together quite like a book usually is. Still, Wright provides a fresh look at life, scripture, culture. The first chapter, where he examines evolution, faith, and Epicurius is the best.
January 23, 2020
If God exists, why doesn't he end suffering? How can there be a loving God when innocent people are wiped out by natural disasters? How does the bible account of creation square with science?
These and many other questions are tackled by Wright in this book. It is erudite and at times recondite. Not an easy read but a rewarding one that will make you THINK!
These and many other questions are tackled by Wright in this book. It is erudite and at times recondite. Not an easy read but a rewarding one that will make you THINK!
April 21, 2016
I appreciate Wright's depth of thoughtfulness and careful attention to nuances in the Scriptural text. I might not always agree 100% with his conclusion about one thing or another, but I'm still enriched by learning about his perspective.
September 28, 2017
Definitely a mixed bag of interesting insights and weird interpretations that you'd get only after too much hoity-toity education, too much time on your hands, and too much mercury to the brain from all that fish and chips from English Channel.
July 5, 2015
The central message of this book and all four canonical Gospels is that the creator God is reclaiming the whole world through the wisdom of Jesus. This book calls us to wise up, grow up, and take responsibility. All said, this book does well to illuminate this great message.
Epicureanism
One broad theme in this book is that the proliferation of Epicureanism is plaguing American society. Epicureanism is a worldview in which God may exist, but if he does he is far away and uninvolved in the world.
Epicurus (341-270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher who believed that death meant complete dissolution of the human being. This British author sees Epicurus as the catalyst that has taken American society too far in the division between religion and science. Wright almost jokingly, asks us to draw a line straight from Epicurus to John Lennon who asked us in his song to “imagine there’s no heaven or hell.”
Wright sees Enlightenment philosophers, like Machiavelli and Hobbes, as Epicurean and suggests that America’s embracement of these thinkers has been a mistake. I’m troubled by the extent that Wright demonizes the Enlightenment, which was instrumental in lifting the world from the quagmire of much superstitious nonsense. I lament that Wright doesn’t address the adversities of the early church, the Inquisition, and the squelching of science by primitive Catholicism.
Personally, I have only thanks to offer Martin Luther for leading us beyond the narrow-minded doctrines of the early church. But this author sees it differently, pointing out that: “the movement that gave us penicillin also gave us Hiroshima.”
The Enlightenment and Democracy
Not only did the Enlightenment help Americans dispense with much superstitious nonsense promulgated by the early church, it also helped us to reject ridiculous monarchies. Certainly, the rise of democracy could never have been accelerated without the catalyst of the Enlightenment. However, Wright correctly reminds us that the rise of democracies has been accompanied by some troubling tyrannies. Nonetheless, we must recognize democracy as an essential step in our social evolution towards merit over birthright.
The idea of meritocracy in America is stronger than in other parts of the world and clearly something that I, as an American, highly embrace. However, this book seems an attempt to disparage it. I’m certain Wright would cite my objections as proof of the obstinacy of Americans but, after all, we Americans are the products of political and religious revolutionaries. It’s in our blood!
Wright sees this as a problem because Americans believe so strongly in their democracy and its ability to solve problems. Wright laments that Americans have declared God “unconstitutional” by extinguishing Him from public places and resigning itself to social Darwinism. The author rightly thinks that many Americans oppose health-care proposals under the pretense of Darwin’s premise of “survival of the fittest”. The author purports, correctly I think, that many Americans are of the opinion that those who don’t get up and go earn their own way should be left out, at least to a degree sufficient to extend punitively to their slothfulness. Or, similarly, that if American’s don’t like a regime somewhere else in the world they feel perfectly justified in bombing it to smithereens.
In fact, I brought up the subject of arbitrary U.S. murders abroad with drones at a Wednesday night dinner in the American church that I attend. I was quite stunned by the affirmations of drone killing under full acknowledgement that such death sentences are carried out without due process, trial, or explanation at all beyond the purview of some dark, undisclosed decision-maker high up in the intelligence bureaucracy. This author sees these characteristics of our society as symptomatic of the divorce between faith and science.
God’s Image
Wright correctly points out that the whole Bible is about God establishing his kingdom on earth. God’s kingdom is to be ushered in through an obedient humanity that is motivated by love for God and each other. This is the process by which God transforms humans into kingdom-workers. The point of Jesus’ humanity is to demonstrate how humans are to take up their God-given vocation. Jesus showed us what it looks like to harbor obedience, even to the point of martyrdom.
Wright calls us “to be an angled mirror, reflecting God’s wise order into the world”. That is what it means to be made in God’s image! This image becomes manifest when God is present within us and it is through this image that others see God. By wielding God’s image, we are able to extend sacred space into the earth. By abdicating God’s image, we succumb to the elements of distortion, falsity, and chaos.
Jesus is the beginning, the first fruits. Early Christians believed that the resurrection had begun with Jesus and would continue until the last day, with all the living called to work with Jesus in the power of the Spirit for transformation of the earth, until they themselves are called to their own bodily transformation in death. This is the sort of eschatology that makes Jesus a higher Lord than Caesar, Obama, Putin, or any other authoritarian.
Once transformed by the resurrection, Jesus exhibited a physical body, insomuch as it encompassed space, but also a body that could go through locked doors, appear, disappear, and re-appear. It was a body that was no longer corruptible or subject to decay. Similarly, it will be for us a new self; a self that we actually begin to formulate in this life.
Thy Kingdom Come – Celebrate Change
The “eureka” for doubting Thomas was the realization that the resurrected Jesus was indeed a new creation, transformed, and different. Indeed, the Bible relates that many who encountered the resurrected Jesus did not, at first recognize Him. We are called to be stewards of this new creation, to work for its promulgation in the earth, to serve It, and to facilitate it’s blossoming. We are now wandering the earth as Jesus wandered the earth.
We must recognize that we are in the “penultimate”, the time before, the time of the synthesizing between the “old” and the “new”. We are in a place where change is happening to us and to those around us and we should celebrate it and encourage it forward. Our time is yet to come.
Our hope is not wishful thinking or blind optimism, but rather knowing anticipation. It is a discernment that allows us to see world history trekking inexorably toward its destiny. Our knowing is confirmed in us when we witness and experience agape sufficiently to bathe in its bliss and power. We may then, without doubt, praise It as that most worthy and we may enthusiastically pursue Its profuse dispersion across the earth and into the universe.
Agape is the deepest mode of knowing. Possessing agape is a prerequisite for entry into the newness to come. It is not about promoting any particular denomination, but rather, quite simply, about gaining agape into the self. Agape is personified in Jesus. In the beginning was the Word. The author alerts us that the Word is ”the speech, the self-expression, the creative power, and the personal presence, of the transcendent creator. The author calls us to “open our curtains to the rising Son”.
The audacity that a mere human would contend that God’s creation isn’t right is beyond me. How could anyone believe that God somehow screwed up the creation? This fundamental error by theologians in explaining evil implies that God is not omnipotent but fallible. Evil exists because God purposefully allows it to exist. God knew perfectly well that eventually men would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, that’s exactly why He placed the tree in the garden in the first place. Evil has a role of fertilizing our spiritual growth, just like shit fertilizes plants. We can’t truly understand compassion until we see greed. We can’t appreciate health without sickness, wealth without poverty, or peace without conflict. We can’t truly appreciate life until we see and experience death. God is highlighted for us against a backdrop of what God is not.
Sacred Space
Heaven is another dimension of sacred space but we are called to make sacred space in THIS dimension and we do that by resisting evil. Resisting evil and creating sacred space is our purpose and our God-given vocation. What sort of space are you busy creating? Is it sacred space, hellish space, or some sort of insignificant space? Our creation of sacred space in this dimension is the way in which the invisible God becomes present in this world - through us - manifest in our humanity - present in the human form. Creation, like clay, paint or canvas, is the medium within which we are challenged to cast forth the sacred.
We are like children who first entertain themselves with building mud pies before they get about considering the construction of sacred space. We progress to building elaborate temples but still we don’t understand that sacred space is constructed not solely with sticks and bricks, but with love, peace, sacrifice, compassion, and togetherness. We must mature into being less concerned with our personal edifice and more concerned with an edifice of love that harbors many in communities, towns, & cities. Let us build a gleaming, sacred city shining on a hill, with inhabitants that share God’s love for one another and for God’s creation. This is what creation is for. For us to truly learn and experience what really makes us flourish in life.
The Role of the Modern Church
Our role is not that of the detached observer, but that of the involved participant. We are called to be actors, not spectators. It is time for us to get on with those works of justice, mercy, beauty, and relationship-building that we know in our bones ought to be flourishing around us.
We urgently need to develop ways of holding our governments to account. Our methods of exegesis must become more practical, invoke people to action, and not confuse people into a quagmire of superstitious nonsense. It is, quite simply, about the path of self-giving love, of agape. It is about allowing His kingdom to work through us and in us. The church is nothing more than people who bear witness to Him by their very existence and unity.
The church needs to become manifest in the world. The church must invite those whose hearts have shriveled with sorrowful disbelief to come and see what love has done and what love is doing. Let us explore God’s truth with reverence and delight. Let His teachings about poverty, human dignity, and peace be honored, studied, taught, and practiced.
We vitally need to generate and sustain wholesome communities. We vitally need to embody the practical love of God and gain the wisdom to approve what is excellent and call to account what isn’t. Medicine, education, and basic sustenance are for everyone and denying these things to some makes for a sordid, shabby world of lies and death. We must cease always favoring the rich, the proliferation of exorbitant compound interest, wars, the bailing out of corrupt companies, and the careless incarcerations of the abused, while forgetting the cry of the poor and needy. We must speak up for justice. We must feed the sheep. We must harbor an implacable refusal to collude with violence, prejudice or greed.
Ancient & Modern Demons
Many worship demons unconsciously. Three of the most popular demons that are subconsciously worshiped in modernity are Mars, the god of war, Mammon, the god of money, and Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love. These ancient and well-known demons are present and powerful today. Those who worship demons as their gods devote sacrifices to them.
Mars routinely acquires human sacrifices in body bags along with the misery and hate that erupts from our constant wars. Not to mention the outright murder inflicted by our drones, which destroy at the whim of some dark unidentified decider that looms in the catacombs of our government. We have a thousand machines for making war but none for making peace.
People prostitute themselves daily to Mammon, constantly expending their energies and vitality on behalf of it, and enslaving themselves to debt. We have computers that can conduct trades, run stock markets, and make millions out of tiny moves in exchange rates, but none that can rescue the poorest countries from abject poverty.
Aphrodite addicts her subjects to pornography, cosmetic surgery, stalking, rape, divorce, adultery, and other unhealthy allurements. We know how to make pornography but not how to repair our marriages. Aphrodite lures us to the creation of fantasy graphics that promote unattainable, un-human, mirages of perfection, which her worshippers pursue relentlessly.
Only disasters come from worshipping Mars, Mammon, and Aphrodite. Instead of worshipping demons, we should be reflecting the creators wisdom and care into the world. This requires much more than just being a detached observer. The world we have is reflective of what we worship. We must become wiser! We must allow wisdom to become human in us.
Conclusion
The larger reality of agape, as demonstrated by Jesus, is a new mode of being in which the power of love defeats the love of power. In which the beauty of creation wins out over death. In which the wisdom of God becomes present in people of every shape and type, offering healing and reconciliation.
Epicureanism
One broad theme in this book is that the proliferation of Epicureanism is plaguing American society. Epicureanism is a worldview in which God may exist, but if he does he is far away and uninvolved in the world.
Epicurus (341-270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher who believed that death meant complete dissolution of the human being. This British author sees Epicurus as the catalyst that has taken American society too far in the division between religion and science. Wright almost jokingly, asks us to draw a line straight from Epicurus to John Lennon who asked us in his song to “imagine there’s no heaven or hell.”
Wright sees Enlightenment philosophers, like Machiavelli and Hobbes, as Epicurean and suggests that America’s embracement of these thinkers has been a mistake. I’m troubled by the extent that Wright demonizes the Enlightenment, which was instrumental in lifting the world from the quagmire of much superstitious nonsense. I lament that Wright doesn’t address the adversities of the early church, the Inquisition, and the squelching of science by primitive Catholicism.
Personally, I have only thanks to offer Martin Luther for leading us beyond the narrow-minded doctrines of the early church. But this author sees it differently, pointing out that: “the movement that gave us penicillin also gave us Hiroshima.”
The Enlightenment and Democracy
Not only did the Enlightenment help Americans dispense with much superstitious nonsense promulgated by the early church, it also helped us to reject ridiculous monarchies. Certainly, the rise of democracy could never have been accelerated without the catalyst of the Enlightenment. However, Wright correctly reminds us that the rise of democracies has been accompanied by some troubling tyrannies. Nonetheless, we must recognize democracy as an essential step in our social evolution towards merit over birthright.
The idea of meritocracy in America is stronger than in other parts of the world and clearly something that I, as an American, highly embrace. However, this book seems an attempt to disparage it. I’m certain Wright would cite my objections as proof of the obstinacy of Americans but, after all, we Americans are the products of political and religious revolutionaries. It’s in our blood!
Wright sees this as a problem because Americans believe so strongly in their democracy and its ability to solve problems. Wright laments that Americans have declared God “unconstitutional” by extinguishing Him from public places and resigning itself to social Darwinism. The author rightly thinks that many Americans oppose health-care proposals under the pretense of Darwin’s premise of “survival of the fittest”. The author purports, correctly I think, that many Americans are of the opinion that those who don’t get up and go earn their own way should be left out, at least to a degree sufficient to extend punitively to their slothfulness. Or, similarly, that if American’s don’t like a regime somewhere else in the world they feel perfectly justified in bombing it to smithereens.
In fact, I brought up the subject of arbitrary U.S. murders abroad with drones at a Wednesday night dinner in the American church that I attend. I was quite stunned by the affirmations of drone killing under full acknowledgement that such death sentences are carried out without due process, trial, or explanation at all beyond the purview of some dark, undisclosed decision-maker high up in the intelligence bureaucracy. This author sees these characteristics of our society as symptomatic of the divorce between faith and science.
God’s Image
Wright correctly points out that the whole Bible is about God establishing his kingdom on earth. God’s kingdom is to be ushered in through an obedient humanity that is motivated by love for God and each other. This is the process by which God transforms humans into kingdom-workers. The point of Jesus’ humanity is to demonstrate how humans are to take up their God-given vocation. Jesus showed us what it looks like to harbor obedience, even to the point of martyrdom.
Wright calls us “to be an angled mirror, reflecting God’s wise order into the world”. That is what it means to be made in God’s image! This image becomes manifest when God is present within us and it is through this image that others see God. By wielding God’s image, we are able to extend sacred space into the earth. By abdicating God’s image, we succumb to the elements of distortion, falsity, and chaos.
Jesus is the beginning, the first fruits. Early Christians believed that the resurrection had begun with Jesus and would continue until the last day, with all the living called to work with Jesus in the power of the Spirit for transformation of the earth, until they themselves are called to their own bodily transformation in death. This is the sort of eschatology that makes Jesus a higher Lord than Caesar, Obama, Putin, or any other authoritarian.
Once transformed by the resurrection, Jesus exhibited a physical body, insomuch as it encompassed space, but also a body that could go through locked doors, appear, disappear, and re-appear. It was a body that was no longer corruptible or subject to decay. Similarly, it will be for us a new self; a self that we actually begin to formulate in this life.
Thy Kingdom Come – Celebrate Change
The “eureka” for doubting Thomas was the realization that the resurrected Jesus was indeed a new creation, transformed, and different. Indeed, the Bible relates that many who encountered the resurrected Jesus did not, at first recognize Him. We are called to be stewards of this new creation, to work for its promulgation in the earth, to serve It, and to facilitate it’s blossoming. We are now wandering the earth as Jesus wandered the earth.
We must recognize that we are in the “penultimate”, the time before, the time of the synthesizing between the “old” and the “new”. We are in a place where change is happening to us and to those around us and we should celebrate it and encourage it forward. Our time is yet to come.
Our hope is not wishful thinking or blind optimism, but rather knowing anticipation. It is a discernment that allows us to see world history trekking inexorably toward its destiny. Our knowing is confirmed in us when we witness and experience agape sufficiently to bathe in its bliss and power. We may then, without doubt, praise It as that most worthy and we may enthusiastically pursue Its profuse dispersion across the earth and into the universe.
Agape is the deepest mode of knowing. Possessing agape is a prerequisite for entry into the newness to come. It is not about promoting any particular denomination, but rather, quite simply, about gaining agape into the self. Agape is personified in Jesus. In the beginning was the Word. The author alerts us that the Word is ”the speech, the self-expression, the creative power, and the personal presence, of the transcendent creator. The author calls us to “open our curtains to the rising Son”.
The audacity that a mere human would contend that God’s creation isn’t right is beyond me. How could anyone believe that God somehow screwed up the creation? This fundamental error by theologians in explaining evil implies that God is not omnipotent but fallible. Evil exists because God purposefully allows it to exist. God knew perfectly well that eventually men would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, that’s exactly why He placed the tree in the garden in the first place. Evil has a role of fertilizing our spiritual growth, just like shit fertilizes plants. We can’t truly understand compassion until we see greed. We can’t appreciate health without sickness, wealth without poverty, or peace without conflict. We can’t truly appreciate life until we see and experience death. God is highlighted for us against a backdrop of what God is not.
Sacred Space
Heaven is another dimension of sacred space but we are called to make sacred space in THIS dimension and we do that by resisting evil. Resisting evil and creating sacred space is our purpose and our God-given vocation. What sort of space are you busy creating? Is it sacred space, hellish space, or some sort of insignificant space? Our creation of sacred space in this dimension is the way in which the invisible God becomes present in this world - through us - manifest in our humanity - present in the human form. Creation, like clay, paint or canvas, is the medium within which we are challenged to cast forth the sacred.
We are like children who first entertain themselves with building mud pies before they get about considering the construction of sacred space. We progress to building elaborate temples but still we don’t understand that sacred space is constructed not solely with sticks and bricks, but with love, peace, sacrifice, compassion, and togetherness. We must mature into being less concerned with our personal edifice and more concerned with an edifice of love that harbors many in communities, towns, & cities. Let us build a gleaming, sacred city shining on a hill, with inhabitants that share God’s love for one another and for God’s creation. This is what creation is for. For us to truly learn and experience what really makes us flourish in life.
The Role of the Modern Church
Our role is not that of the detached observer, but that of the involved participant. We are called to be actors, not spectators. It is time for us to get on with those works of justice, mercy, beauty, and relationship-building that we know in our bones ought to be flourishing around us.
We urgently need to develop ways of holding our governments to account. Our methods of exegesis must become more practical, invoke people to action, and not confuse people into a quagmire of superstitious nonsense. It is, quite simply, about the path of self-giving love, of agape. It is about allowing His kingdom to work through us and in us. The church is nothing more than people who bear witness to Him by their very existence and unity.
The church needs to become manifest in the world. The church must invite those whose hearts have shriveled with sorrowful disbelief to come and see what love has done and what love is doing. Let us explore God’s truth with reverence and delight. Let His teachings about poverty, human dignity, and peace be honored, studied, taught, and practiced.
We vitally need to generate and sustain wholesome communities. We vitally need to embody the practical love of God and gain the wisdom to approve what is excellent and call to account what isn’t. Medicine, education, and basic sustenance are for everyone and denying these things to some makes for a sordid, shabby world of lies and death. We must cease always favoring the rich, the proliferation of exorbitant compound interest, wars, the bailing out of corrupt companies, and the careless incarcerations of the abused, while forgetting the cry of the poor and needy. We must speak up for justice. We must feed the sheep. We must harbor an implacable refusal to collude with violence, prejudice or greed.
Ancient & Modern Demons
Many worship demons unconsciously. Three of the most popular demons that are subconsciously worshiped in modernity are Mars, the god of war, Mammon, the god of money, and Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love. These ancient and well-known demons are present and powerful today. Those who worship demons as their gods devote sacrifices to them.
Mars routinely acquires human sacrifices in body bags along with the misery and hate that erupts from our constant wars. Not to mention the outright murder inflicted by our drones, which destroy at the whim of some dark unidentified decider that looms in the catacombs of our government. We have a thousand machines for making war but none for making peace.
People prostitute themselves daily to Mammon, constantly expending their energies and vitality on behalf of it, and enslaving themselves to debt. We have computers that can conduct trades, run stock markets, and make millions out of tiny moves in exchange rates, but none that can rescue the poorest countries from abject poverty.
Aphrodite addicts her subjects to pornography, cosmetic surgery, stalking, rape, divorce, adultery, and other unhealthy allurements. We know how to make pornography but not how to repair our marriages. Aphrodite lures us to the creation of fantasy graphics that promote unattainable, un-human, mirages of perfection, which her worshippers pursue relentlessly.
Only disasters come from worshipping Mars, Mammon, and Aphrodite. Instead of worshipping demons, we should be reflecting the creators wisdom and care into the world. This requires much more than just being a detached observer. The world we have is reflective of what we worship. We must become wiser! We must allow wisdom to become human in us.
Conclusion
The larger reality of agape, as demonstrated by Jesus, is a new mode of being in which the power of love defeats the love of power. In which the beauty of creation wins out over death. In which the wisdom of God becomes present in people of every shape and type, offering healing and reconciliation.
June 18, 2015
Title: Surprised by Scripture
Author: NT Wright
Publisher: HarperOne
Year: 2014
Pages: 223
Anyone who has read any of my book reviews knows that NT Wright typically gets rave reviews from me--both as a lover of literature and as a Christian who loves Wright's theological perspective. Fact is, I can scarcely ever find anything in his books with which I disagree.
With this book, that changed just a little because I found much of what he wrote to be provocative and challenging to some long held theological ideas I have held. Letting go of long-held ideas isn't easy; being challenged at an intellectual level is sometimes discouraging. If we are not careful, we can label those who challenge us as abrasive or mean. He doesn't hold back, challenging all those sacred-cows current Christians have championed as 'thou shalt not violate orthodoxy in these matters' kind of doctrines. Sad truth is that entire ministries have been built around some of these sacred-cows in recent years--trumpeting theological perspectives that are important, yes, but often exist to the exclusion of a more comprehensive narrative, or to the exclusion of the Person to whom they point. It's kind of like the way a lot of books are put together in today's Evangelical publishing houses: authors find a single verse that supports an idea and then scratch around other tangential passages to find more support and then, voila!, a book is born. And all the while these authors pay very little, if any, attention to the meta-narrative of Scripture.
Yet this is precisely what NT Wright refuses to do in his writing. Taking a sort of 'damn the torpedoes' approach to the sacred-cows and theological pillars of current incarnation of the church, he plows through each subject by constantly reminding of us what Scripture says, and not just what a verse says. What I mean to say is that the meta-narrative is always in his view when he writes. It matters not the subject matter: Wright always has 66 books in his vision when he is writing about even the smallest word, sentence, paragraph, or book of the Bible. And so it is with Surprised by Scripture. There's not a subject he touches that isn't somehow connected to the larger context of the Bible, of the story of God coming down to rescue broken and sinful humanity in Jesus and the project begun at Jesus' resurrection to rebuild this earth and it's people.
This is what I simultaneously love and hate about NT Wright's books. On the one hand, he always has the meta-narrative in mind so I know that he is not trying to hoodwink me or convince me of some specious theology that is born out of a reaction to some perceived threat or otherwise. Many authors/preachers are good at this and it is reflected in the lack of depth in their work. On the other hand, he always has the meta-narrative in mind so he is constantly challenging my presuppositions about Scripture and God and what God is doing, or has done, in Jesus. That is terrifically threatening and makes me constantly uncomfortable. It ought to be so with all authors who dare speak on matters of faith. It ought to be so with all preachers: comforting the afflicted; afflicting the comfortable.
Surprised by Scripture made me clench my teeth more than any other of Wright's books precisely at this point. Yet I think this is exactly what happens when you take the bulk of Wright's heavy theologies and filter them down to the every day church. And if we do, and if we are honest, we simply must admit that we have gotten a lot of it just plain wrong. We might also go along with admitting that many of the ministries that are build around some of these wrongs are also, sadly, beside the point. Taking the example of the creation stories, for example, we might say something like: It's important that God made the universe; it's not so much important how he did it. But we might go further and say: It's important that God made the universe, and it's tremendously important that all throughout the Scripture the authors affirm that God is going to remake & recreate the universe. We can go even further: It's important that God made the universe, sustains the universe; that the authors reaffirm this frequently; that the authors reaffirm frequently that God will renew, recreate, remake the universe; that God has already begun to do this in Jesus and will bring it to fruition at some point. One way of saying this ignores the big picture; one way affirms it.
Well, we cannot prove creation in any ex nihilo sense of creation. We can surmise. We can guess. We might ask: Is it a mountain upon which I am willing to die? But what we can do is point to the Resurrection of Jesus (chapter 3) as a point in history where God's breaking in and stirring up the pot of recreative materials that can actually be demonstrated. The point, of course, is that we Christians get all frustrated because we have tied ourselves to the posts of things that are not quite as important as some other things--or because we feel compelled to prove something about Jesus that doesn't need proving because we think that if we don't the whole world of faithism will die. But we are to be found in Jesus, loving Jesus, loving people. Seems to me that everything else is so much frosting.
If we are more willing to die for a doctrine than we are for a person then we have utterly missed the point. I suspect at times this is Wright's point.
The only real gripe I have with this book is Wright's points about politics--especially American politics. He seems very sensitive to the way American politicians do things--especially as it relates to events surrounding September 11, 2001 and the ongoing drama of how 'we' deal with terrorist organizations. He says he's no pacifist; I believe him. But he seems to forget that the 'war on terror' although led mainly by the USA was, in fact, a coalition of nations who decided enough was enough. I disagree with his subtle criticisms of then president Bush (although he never mentions him by name) and the manner of response to the actions of evil people. I think this is even more pertinent now as we see our current president simply doing nothing against terrorist threats, beheadings of women and children, and the systematic destruction of churches and christians in the Middle East.
The problem with Wright's critique of American political processes is that he gives us no viable alternatives. He thinks American democracy is worse than his British Socialism. He thinks that we should be voices in the wilderness hammering out our prophecies against politicians and governments, and perhaps we should, but he doesn't tell us with what or with whom we are to replace them. Should we go back to Medieval Feudalism? Should we revert to the monarchy we escaped from? Should we adopt Sharia? Perhaps we should let Anarchy rule and go back to the time of Judges when 'everyone did as he saw fit in his own eyes'? My point is, it's fine to criticize the way we do things in America if in fact you have a superior alternative. I simply do not see in any of Wright's books a superior alternative to the representative republic in which I happen to live. And if I may add one last point, for as much as I love Wright, for as much as I think he is dead on in keeping the narrative vision alive and in front, I think he is dead wrong when it comes to his critique of the United States. Dr Wright has indeed benefited greatly from the freedoms we enjoy here in America--not least of which is freedom to say what he wants, write what he wants, and criticize who he wants and then return back to the safety of Great Britain. I think it is disingenuous to say on page 112 that 'Western politicians knew perfectly well that al Qaeda was a danger...' and then criticize the reaction to September 11, 2001 as a 'knee-jerk, unthinking, immature lashing out.'
This is a case where the president at the time was damned for doing and would have been damned for not doing (when in fact nearly everyone in government at the time supported the idea of taking action). Frankly, I think Wright's critique beginning on page 112 and ending somewhere on page 114 is wrong (as I think much of his criticism of the American political system is wrong). Perhaps if the British government, who had suffered worse before the USA on September 11, had done something we wouldn't have had to act in the way we did or at all. Fact is, however, no one was doing anything about rampant terrorism until our president took action--and if that's true, then who is to say his actions were merely 'knee-jerk, unthinking, and immature'? It's easy to shift blame which is what Wright does here. His government did nothing about it so when ours did it was, somehow, wrong. And this is all beside the point that our president was acting as the president of a sovereign nation--humanists, atheists, christians, Jews, Gentiles, etc. All of us. He was not acting on behalf of a church or a synagogue or a mosque or professor's chair; he was acting on behalf of the people he swore to protect.
All that being said, I enjoyed the challenge the book afforded. I especially found the last chapter to be one of the best chapters I have read in a long time on the subject of hope. It also goes without saying that Wright is his typical exegetical genius. He brings fresh insights to the Scripture and challenges our presuppositions in a host of ways. I think he would be the first to tell you he doesn't have all the answers to all the problems we face, but in my opinion, he has laser vision on where we should start looking.
4/5 Stars.
Author: NT Wright
Publisher: HarperOne
Year: 2014
Pages: 223
Anyone who has read any of my book reviews knows that NT Wright typically gets rave reviews from me--both as a lover of literature and as a Christian who loves Wright's theological perspective. Fact is, I can scarcely ever find anything in his books with which I disagree.
With this book, that changed just a little because I found much of what he wrote to be provocative and challenging to some long held theological ideas I have held. Letting go of long-held ideas isn't easy; being challenged at an intellectual level is sometimes discouraging. If we are not careful, we can label those who challenge us as abrasive or mean. He doesn't hold back, challenging all those sacred-cows current Christians have championed as 'thou shalt not violate orthodoxy in these matters' kind of doctrines. Sad truth is that entire ministries have been built around some of these sacred-cows in recent years--trumpeting theological perspectives that are important, yes, but often exist to the exclusion of a more comprehensive narrative, or to the exclusion of the Person to whom they point. It's kind of like the way a lot of books are put together in today's Evangelical publishing houses: authors find a single verse that supports an idea and then scratch around other tangential passages to find more support and then, voila!, a book is born. And all the while these authors pay very little, if any, attention to the meta-narrative of Scripture.
Yet this is precisely what NT Wright refuses to do in his writing. Taking a sort of 'damn the torpedoes' approach to the sacred-cows and theological pillars of current incarnation of the church, he plows through each subject by constantly reminding of us what Scripture says, and not just what a verse says. What I mean to say is that the meta-narrative is always in his view when he writes. It matters not the subject matter: Wright always has 66 books in his vision when he is writing about even the smallest word, sentence, paragraph, or book of the Bible. And so it is with Surprised by Scripture. There's not a subject he touches that isn't somehow connected to the larger context of the Bible, of the story of God coming down to rescue broken and sinful humanity in Jesus and the project begun at Jesus' resurrection to rebuild this earth and it's people.
This is what I simultaneously love and hate about NT Wright's books. On the one hand, he always has the meta-narrative in mind so I know that he is not trying to hoodwink me or convince me of some specious theology that is born out of a reaction to some perceived threat or otherwise. Many authors/preachers are good at this and it is reflected in the lack of depth in their work. On the other hand, he always has the meta-narrative in mind so he is constantly challenging my presuppositions about Scripture and God and what God is doing, or has done, in Jesus. That is terrifically threatening and makes me constantly uncomfortable. It ought to be so with all authors who dare speak on matters of faith. It ought to be so with all preachers: comforting the afflicted; afflicting the comfortable.
Surprised by Scripture made me clench my teeth more than any other of Wright's books precisely at this point. Yet I think this is exactly what happens when you take the bulk of Wright's heavy theologies and filter them down to the every day church. And if we do, and if we are honest, we simply must admit that we have gotten a lot of it just plain wrong. We might also go along with admitting that many of the ministries that are build around some of these wrongs are also, sadly, beside the point. Taking the example of the creation stories, for example, we might say something like: It's important that God made the universe; it's not so much important how he did it. But we might go further and say: It's important that God made the universe, and it's tremendously important that all throughout the Scripture the authors affirm that God is going to remake & recreate the universe. We can go even further: It's important that God made the universe, sustains the universe; that the authors reaffirm this frequently; that the authors reaffirm frequently that God will renew, recreate, remake the universe; that God has already begun to do this in Jesus and will bring it to fruition at some point. One way of saying this ignores the big picture; one way affirms it.
Well, we cannot prove creation in any ex nihilo sense of creation. We can surmise. We can guess. We might ask: Is it a mountain upon which I am willing to die? But what we can do is point to the Resurrection of Jesus (chapter 3) as a point in history where God's breaking in and stirring up the pot of recreative materials that can actually be demonstrated. The point, of course, is that we Christians get all frustrated because we have tied ourselves to the posts of things that are not quite as important as some other things--or because we feel compelled to prove something about Jesus that doesn't need proving because we think that if we don't the whole world of faithism will die. But we are to be found in Jesus, loving Jesus, loving people. Seems to me that everything else is so much frosting.
If we are more willing to die for a doctrine than we are for a person then we have utterly missed the point. I suspect at times this is Wright's point.
The only real gripe I have with this book is Wright's points about politics--especially American politics. He seems very sensitive to the way American politicians do things--especially as it relates to events surrounding September 11, 2001 and the ongoing drama of how 'we' deal with terrorist organizations. He says he's no pacifist; I believe him. But he seems to forget that the 'war on terror' although led mainly by the USA was, in fact, a coalition of nations who decided enough was enough. I disagree with his subtle criticisms of then president Bush (although he never mentions him by name) and the manner of response to the actions of evil people. I think this is even more pertinent now as we see our current president simply doing nothing against terrorist threats, beheadings of women and children, and the systematic destruction of churches and christians in the Middle East.
The problem with Wright's critique of American political processes is that he gives us no viable alternatives. He thinks American democracy is worse than his British Socialism. He thinks that we should be voices in the wilderness hammering out our prophecies against politicians and governments, and perhaps we should, but he doesn't tell us with what or with whom we are to replace them. Should we go back to Medieval Feudalism? Should we revert to the monarchy we escaped from? Should we adopt Sharia? Perhaps we should let Anarchy rule and go back to the time of Judges when 'everyone did as he saw fit in his own eyes'? My point is, it's fine to criticize the way we do things in America if in fact you have a superior alternative. I simply do not see in any of Wright's books a superior alternative to the representative republic in which I happen to live. And if I may add one last point, for as much as I love Wright, for as much as I think he is dead on in keeping the narrative vision alive and in front, I think he is dead wrong when it comes to his critique of the United States. Dr Wright has indeed benefited greatly from the freedoms we enjoy here in America--not least of which is freedom to say what he wants, write what he wants, and criticize who he wants and then return back to the safety of Great Britain. I think it is disingenuous to say on page 112 that 'Western politicians knew perfectly well that al Qaeda was a danger...' and then criticize the reaction to September 11, 2001 as a 'knee-jerk, unthinking, immature lashing out.'
This is a case where the president at the time was damned for doing and would have been damned for not doing (when in fact nearly everyone in government at the time supported the idea of taking action). Frankly, I think Wright's critique beginning on page 112 and ending somewhere on page 114 is wrong (as I think much of his criticism of the American political system is wrong). Perhaps if the British government, who had suffered worse before the USA on September 11, had done something we wouldn't have had to act in the way we did or at all. Fact is, however, no one was doing anything about rampant terrorism until our president took action--and if that's true, then who is to say his actions were merely 'knee-jerk, unthinking, and immature'? It's easy to shift blame which is what Wright does here. His government did nothing about it so when ours did it was, somehow, wrong. And this is all beside the point that our president was acting as the president of a sovereign nation--humanists, atheists, christians, Jews, Gentiles, etc. All of us. He was not acting on behalf of a church or a synagogue or a mosque or professor's chair; he was acting on behalf of the people he swore to protect.
All that being said, I enjoyed the challenge the book afforded. I especially found the last chapter to be one of the best chapters I have read in a long time on the subject of hope. It also goes without saying that Wright is his typical exegetical genius. He brings fresh insights to the Scripture and challenges our presuppositions in a host of ways. I think he would be the first to tell you he doesn't have all the answers to all the problems we face, but in my opinion, he has laser vision on where we should start looking.
4/5 Stars.
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