A word of caution bears stating again - just because I recommend a
book does NOT mean I fully endorse EVERYTHING the author says, either in that book
or elsewhere - but if I recommend a book it does mean that I believe there is
enough worthwhile material to make the exercise in reading and pondering an
edifying experience for the believer. So here is what I’ve been reading lately:
N.T. Wright is one of my favourite authors and New Testament
scholars. I find that he has a way of New Perspective on Paul. It’s somewhat ironic that Wright has
been so maligned by the reformed crowd because as Ben Witherington III puts it:
communicating his vast intellectual prowess in a way that is neither too heady for the average Christian nor condescending in tone. He is probably most famous in recent years for his disagreement with those in the conservative reformed camp (John Piper, D.A. Carson and the like) over issues related to what has been coined the
communicating his vast intellectual prowess in a way that is neither too heady for the average Christian nor condescending in tone. He is probably most famous in recent years for his disagreement with those in the conservative reformed camp (John Piper, D.A. Carson and the like) over issues related to what has been coined the
“I find it bordering on bizarre that he is being attacked by his own
close theological kin. This is truly an ‘in-house’ fight, and I don’t
really have a dog in it, except Bishop Wright is a long time Christian friend,
and it is not right to stand idly by and watch a brother being unnecessarily
attacked. For what it is worth, I find Wright a far better and more
Biblical ambassador for his particular Reformed theological view point than
those who are attacking him.”
But this book is not about that issue. What is at stake here is
arguable something much larger than the debates over the doctrine of
justification (and that’s saying something!) what this book is about is the
foundational idea of how we approach the Holy Scriptures, what we should be
expecting them to say to us, how we should read them and then of course how we
should apply them. These are the foundational issues of building any sort of
Christian theology and Wright has written this book to provide some guidance.
After some theological preamble about the way Israel and Jesus
related to the Scriptures Wright starts by giving an historical overview of how
Scripture has been read and handled by the people of God from the early church
into the time of the reformation. It’s an interesting survey of the evolution of
people’s view of the Word of God within Christendom. Wright argues against what
is becoming a disturbing trend in conservative Protestant Christianity these
days which places not only the Scripture itself into uncontested territory –
but also the interpretation of Scripture as expounded by the big name reformers
(particularly Calvin). Wright sees this as a step backwards from the heartbeat
of the reformation and into dangerous territory where it becomes scripture PLUS
accepted interpretation that becomes sacred rather than Scripture alone. He
says:
If the Reformers could return and address us today,
they would not say, “We got it all right; you must follow our exegesis and
theology and implement it precisely as it stands.” What they would say is, “You
must follow our method: read and study scripture for all it’s worth, and let it
do its work in the world, in and through you and your churches.”
Aside from critiques of contemporary interpretive methods – Wright
does propose his own framework for looking at the Scripture: He sees the Bible
as a five act play that is unfolding in the world. Wright sees Scripture
largely in narrative terms – even the non-narrative books of the Bible compose
part of a larger narrative arc – or a story of what God has done, what God is
doing and what God will do. He breaks down the Bible into five acts – the fifth
of which is incomplete. Act one is Creation
– God ordering the cosmos; Act two is Fall
– the story of how humanity took paradise and turned it into perdition; Act
three is Israel – the beginning of
God’s plan to bless all peoples through a chosen and favoured nation; Act four
is Jesus – the shocking climax of
history where through that chosen people the Father makes a way for All People
to now be reconciled and opens up the path to renewal for the whole of
creation; and Act five is the Church
– which is the unfinished act. Act five is where we live and where God has
invited us to become a part of the story. He has given us some understanding of
what this act is moving toward in the end – what the conclusion of the play
will be if you will – but He has called us to live out that narrative – to “improvise” the rest of the story in
Wright’s own words. That improvisation of the Christian life is Wright’s
explanation of hermeneutics. We are called to understand what has happened in
the play so far, to get our heads around the arc of the story and then to with
an understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re going fill in the gap that
we exist in right now. God is asking us to craft the story along with him. It
is an exciting and active way to read the Bible and allow it to change,
influence, direct, guide and shape our lives.
For Wright that is the sense in which the Bible is authoritative –
It tells us about where we came from, it tells us about our situation, it tells
us about God’s great plan for redemption, it introduces us to the person of
Jesus and exhorts us to tell others the same story. And after all that God
places us in the middle of the story armed with enough knowledge to be a part
of his plan to bring the narrative to conclusion. We are actors in the divine
drama – God is the playwright, director, producer and lead actor in this drama
and as the supporting cast the Scriptures implore us to play our parts in
keeping with God’s creative vision for the story.
For me that’s a really exciting invitation and one of the reasons
why I so enjoyed this book.
That was a longer review than I had intended to write so I’m going
to let this one stand on its own. I’ll be back tomorrow with a few more
recommendations.
Until then,
Chris
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