Romans in a Week

by N.T. Wright

Paul's letter to the Romans has been one of the most important single documents in the history of the church, and indeed of the whole world. Most Christians have a nodding acquaintance with bits of it; few would claim to have mastered its complex arguments, its sudden changes of mood, or even the question of why Paul wrote it in the first place. This course begins with a bird's eye view of the letter, seeing it holistically before moving to the parts. Then Professor Wright focuses on the individual sections, assessing their contribution to that whole. He examines some of the most controversial and difficult passages in detail (3:21-4:25, 7:7-8:11 and 9-11) before standing back and capturing a last awesome view of the breathtaking theological and missionary vision which Paul offers to his readers.

Genres: Theology, Christian, New Testament, Religion, Christianity, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

N. 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.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a 10-hour recording of a class at Regent College, Bible scholar N.T. Wright covers the book of Romans. Well he cannot cover every little section in detail, he consistently interprets each section in might of the big picture: God's covenant faithfulness to Israel through Christ, which is made available to all nations.

[Luca Di Lieto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice to listen to the original lectures. Not the most engaging for me. Some interesting points on Greek translations though such as the difference of law between Torah and Nomos and sin as hamartia or parabasis. And the important distinction between spirit and flesh, pneuma and saks.
Also some historical context I wasn’t previously aware of.

[Will]

It was a good book, really hard to follow for me. I think because he uses such different phraseology and terminology than what I am used to. However, in my opinion N.T. has some EXTREMELY GOOD points on justification in the context of how "HE" says early temple Judaism was conducted. Along the same line his views of many articles in the Jewish tradition weigh heavily upon much of his pastoral counsel it seems. I think my favorite part of the book is a pretty important sub-theme, he is constantly trying to explain certain aspects of Romans in a grander context of what he will refer to as "New Creation," this is a pretty new idea to me since I was brought up being taught Premilleniumism and Rapture theology that teaches all of eternity can be summed up in the Hymn "When we all get to Heaven..." Tom points out that Heaven is not the final residence of humanity, matter of fact heaven isn't meant to be the dwelling as such, but there needs to be a recognition of the New Creation in which God will right everything in the world and set his Kingship here on the new earth with his people. I highly recommend this book to people who want to get to know N.T.'s unique style from which it seems allot of supposed controversy is rising.

[Dcbk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This blew my mind the first time i listened to it a few years ago. Now that i am actually doing an indepth study of Romans it was even better.
I really appreciate how Wright takes Romans as a whole book with a coherant narrative agenda rather than the traditional view that sees it as bits of discrete doctrine with random asides.
I was especially compelled by the way Wright explains Romans 9-11 as integral to the preceding chapters. I am studying Romans with pre-millennial dispensationalists and i lean more towards covenental theology - so this is so uch more satisfying.
I will definitely listen to these lectures again and explore further these ideas.

[Andrew Larkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

High quality, in-depth teaching. Whilst this lecture series is aimed at and delivered to an audience educated in theology, Biblical exegesis and even Biblical Greek, and whilst I fall far short of this, and was aware that I could have gained far more from it if I was more studious in my engagement with these lectures, nevertheless, I have learnt a lot, and am in a much better place to read and understand Romans for myself than I was before these lectures.

[Graham Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

These lectures are the best explanation of why I've changed my view of Romans from "faith vs works" to one that takes the Jew vs Gentile battle into consideration. Listening to this twenty five years later it's wonderful to see how these thoughts have taken hold in theology and why N. T. Wright is the foremost authority on the New Testament today.

[Adam Godbold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, very helpful, very informative, but they were obvious bids that were missing in the recording especially toward the end.

[Aden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly profound series of lectures from one of the greatest theologians of our time. Wright masterfully exegetes the text, displaying Paul’s message beautifully.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking and in depth