Professor N.T. Wright of St. Andrews University in Scotland is no stranger to academia or the church. After publishing over 75 books and serving as the Bishop of Durham, Prof. Wright is a respected as a learned voice in the Christian world. His latest book is called The Day the Revolution Began.
Key Questions:
-When we look at look at Jesus’ crucifixion and we take into account Israel’s story, what did the cross of Christ achieve?
-What has the church done right in the area of evangelism?
-What can we learn from the early church that connects with what we’re dealing with in the world today?
Key Quotes:
“In the Western tradition…we have by and large over the last thousand years emphasized a Platonic message about souls going to heaven, which has made the biblical idea of heaven and earth being the twin halves of God’s good creation and of the news heaven and new earth being God’s intention, we have allowed that to be lost of, and in particular, we have lost sight of the resurrection.”
“The role of humans is to reflect God’s image into the world and to reflect the praises of all creation back to God in articulate and glad worship and praise.”
“Humans were made to stand at the cusp, to stand on the edge of heaven and earth and belong in both. Because God wants to belong in both and God calls humans to bear his image.”
“God has to deal with human sin in order to rob the idols of their power so that then new creation can begin. That is the story that the New Testament is telling.”
“The call of Abraham in Genesis 12…is God’s means of putting right the problem of Adam.”
“Jesus comes as Israel’s representative Messiah in order to do for Israel and the world what Israel and the world couldn’t do for themselves.”
“The story of Israel is the story of how the creator intends to rescue the creation. The story of Jesus is how God comes in person to rescue Israel in order to achieve that ultimate end.”
“This is the problem, that we have traditionally, in the west, taken phrases which belong in Jewish eschatology and we’ve turned them into platonic cosmology.”
“We need to recognize in ministry today that where the gospel actually bites in our society will have economic, political, philosophical, religious, ethnic, all sorts of overtones.”
“We have for too long allowed the Enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries to set the pace, which has said: Religion and real life are in two totally different categories. And Christians teach religion so please don’t mention politics, society, etc.”
“A Christian political theology is more complicated and difficult than we have often realized. It isn’t just a matter of saying ‘We’ve all got to be holy anarchists.’ Nor is it just a matter of saying ‘The elected officials in every country are right whatever they do, so you’ve just got to obey them.’”
“How can we in the church as a whole…be training the people in [our] congregation[s] so that they will be people who will speak for Jesus in Caesar’s world today?”
“Trust the God of surprises.”
Mentioned in the Show:
The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion