Singing Whole Psalms

"We should do our best to find ways to use the whole Psalter [in corporate worship]. We should say or sing the puzzling and disturbing bits along with the easy and 'nice' ones" (N. T. Wright, The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential, HarperOne, 2013).

The Claims of Caesar, The Claims of Christians

N. T. Wright writes: 

In these ‘pastoral’ letters Paul regularly refers to Jesus with a title the Roman world used for Caesar: ‘saviour’. Caesar claimed to have rescued, or ‘saved’, the world from chaos, war and anarchy. The early Christians claimed that Jesus had saved it from the ultimate chaos of sin and death. The new world had broken into the old, summoning it to grow up and discover what it was meant to be.

—N. T. Wright, Paul  for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 142.

The Wildest, Most Violent of Persecutors Transformed

N. T. Wright on 1 Tim. 1:15-16:

God has taken the wildest, most violent of blaspheming persecutors, and has transformed him into not only a believer but also a trusted apostle and evangelist. If God can do that, there is nobody out there, no heart so hard, no anger so bitter, that it remains outside the reach of God's patient mercy.

—N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 12.

Reading Wright and Recommending Reading Wright

A good word from Doug Wilson on reading N. T. Wright:

Because of the way Wright articulates certain biblical truths — truths that some of his conservative critics would much rather avoid — reading him can be valuable. I would recommend that any pastors who can read him discerningly do so. But I don’t think it is a good idea to promote his books in our congregations because the clean up costs just aren’t worth it.

I agree. Now I read Wright fairly regularly, because there's good stuff there. But I agree with Wilson that not everyone can wade through it well and separate the wheat from the chaff. Those who appreciate Wright rightly ought to know to whom to recommend his books and to whom not.

The Fascination and Difficulty of History

"The reason history is fascinating is because people in other times and places are so like us. The reason history is difficult is because people in other times and places are so different from us."

—N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013), 50.

N. T. Wright All for Dialogue: Until You Think He's Wrong

Criticizing N. T. Wright's public comments in this post (whether the critique is valid or not) was bound to get a reaction from those for whom one must never do such a thing. And we thought Wright himself was all for dialogue. No? Isn't he up for hearing from people all over the spectrum on all sorts of issues? No? Or is this only the case when someone is kissing the right part of his hind parts?

With all due respect to N. T. Wright (and I do respect him and read and learn from him often), if you wish to see him being a bit of a baby (and condescending) and pulling his oft-repeated "I-don't-recognize-myself" shenanigans, check out his comment in the comments section of this post by Pastor Wilson.

Wilson and Wright are both good men, faithful Christians, and their teachings are worth studying diligently. Wherever one falls on the theological, political, and cultural spectrum on the full range of issues, surely we can agree that these two men disagreeing isn't cause for grave concern. We ought to hang in there with them, that is, if Wright is even willing himself to do so. But it appears he's not willing to dialogue with people who disagree with him quite so sharply.

Update: Wilson's follow-up post responding to Wright's comment in the comments section.

Faith Looks Forward to Unfulfilled Divine Promises

N. T. Wright speaking on genuine faith as resurrection faith:

The main point of 'faith' in [Hebrews 11], as has often been emphasized, is that it looks forward to what has been promised but not yet granted. Noah was warned about things yet to come. Abraham set out for a place he had been promised but had not yet seen. The main antithesis the writer is making is not between an 'upstairs' or 'spiritual' world in the hellenistic sense and a 'downstairs' or 'material' world, but between the present world and the future one, the promised new world which will be God's gift from heaven.

—The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 458.

Meekness Is not Weakness

"Meekness is not weakness, but is what you get when a powerful wild horse has been tamed (all the same power, but now under control)."

—N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 182.

Contemporary Myth-Making

N. T. Wright on the nonsense of popular myth-making:

The general popular belief that the early stories of Genesis were straightforwardly disproved by Charles Darwin is of course nonsense, however many times it is reinforced in contemporary myth-making. Things are just not that simple, in biblical theology or science.

—"The Letter to the Romans" (vol. 10 in The New Interpreter's Bible; Abingdon Press: Nashville, 2002), p. 526.

Is Wright Right?

Here's an assertion made by N. T. Wright regarding common readings of the gospels: "Many 'Christian' readings of the gospels have screened out the political overtones of Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom. . ." (The New Testament and the People of God, 149). I believe Wright is right on this one.

Tom Wright, Toddlers, and Epistemology

N. T. Wright's first volume of a projected six-volume work called The New Testament and the People of God is organized in five parts.  Part I is the introduction and deals with Christian origins and the New Testament.  Part II is entitled "Tools for the Task."  In it Wright discusses four areas: first, knowledge and its problems and varieties; second, literature, story, and the articulation of worldviews; third, history and the first century; and fourth, theology, authority, and the New Testament.  Part III is labeled "First-Century Judaism within the Greco-Roman World," Part IV "The First Christian Century," and Part V "Conclusion." 

Thus far I've only gotten into the front end of Part II, and it is proving to be fruitful and stimulating reading.  Wright writes a lot of sensible and salutary stuff, but I'm left feeling a little like his discussions are (perhaps) a wee bit too controlled by his and related academic disciplines.  I may be able to say more on this in a later post, particularly with regard to epistemology.  But I have to see first how Wright develops the epistemology that undergirds the Christian worldview for which he contends.  And I want to acknowledge lickety-split that any reflections and critique that I offer are admittedly from the standpoint of a toddler standing in awe with wonder at a father's understanding of the world round about.  But toddlers still ask questions like, "But what about this, daddy?  And, why do you say that?"