OK. I believe. What next?
NT Wright uses that question and the illustration of Captain Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger to launch into this excellent book of why the development of Christian virtue is an essential part of the believer's life. This is the third in a series following up Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope. I would strongly recommend both books but they are not necessary for reading this one for all it is worth.
Getting back to Sully, you or I would say that his emergency landing of a 747 on the Hudson River was nothing short of miraculous but NT Wright correctly argues that for the Captain, it is simply the natural product of decades of learning to do the right thing in the right order at the right moment. In a sense, he spent his entire life preparing for that one "miraculous" landing. In the same way, the only way we will be able to do the right thing when all the chips are on the table is if we have consistently and regularly practice Christian virtue daily and regularly in our lives until it also becomes second nature to us.
The practice of these virtues is not a legalistic "follow the rules" type of obedience but rather learning to live out the Kingdom as we follow Jesus. (NT Wright ties everything he writes into the twin concepts of Christ and the Kingdom and no review could ever adequately explain how expertly he does so) This practice is also not a "follow your heart" type of obedience many churches in our post modern world seem to espouse through deep sounding words like "authenticy". Just like practicing the piano, at first the practice of virtue will seem both counter-intuitive and unnatural. Wright also shows how Christian virtue is something much deeper and broader than the traditional ethics given to us through Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
In all, this is an excellent book on the subject, probably one of the best I have read. I do give it four rather than five stars because he does seem to get a bit more long winded here compared to some of his other works. Also, I think he did not balance the theoretical with the practical as well as I might have liked for a book on virtue (too heavy on the former). On the other hand, in addition to his own excellent work, Wright left me with a great bibliography and I fully intend on adding quite a few from it to my reading wishlist.
Now, if only I could be caught in some sort of Groundhog Day type time warp so I could knock a few hundred books off that list. ;)