Richard B. Hays, the esteemed Dean of Duke Divinity School, presented a critique of a few aspects of his good friend N. T. Wright’s work. The critique had to do, largely, with the relation between history and story, with Wright trying to be ever faithful to the historical side of things, frequently drawing on extra-Biblical literature. Hays acknowledges that such an approach has had tremendous upsides. In the first video, Hays briefly outlines five “gains” of Wright’s work. The list is remarkable. In the second video, Hays shows how Wright might have more agreements with the late, great Karl Barth then he might suspect, though they are a few aspects that they would disagree on. Both clips give insight into the massive importance of Wright’s work and serve as fine summaries as to why I love N. T. Wright.
[The clips are taken from the Theological Conference based on Wright’s work held at Wheaton College in April, 2010. The complete lecture can be viewed HERE. The other lectures, rebuttals, and panel discussions from the conference can be viewed for free on iTunesU.]
