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Books

An Introductory Guide for Readers of N. T. Wright’s Books

I’ve only read a small fraction of what N. T. Wright has written but I always thoroughly enjoy his work, and I find it thought provoking, informative, and very helpful. He is one of God’s great gifts to the church in our time. In honor of his birthday on December 1, The Englewood Review of […]

Categories
Eschatology

Locating N. T. Wright’s eschatology on the spectrum of views concerning hell

While jogging this morning, I listened to an interesting  Q & A with Tom Wright on “Unbelievable?” A question arose about Wright’s view of hell and he enunciated his usual view of the dehumanization of the wicked, who eventually cease to bear the image of God. I got to thinking of the splendid triangle developed […]

Categories
Eschatology

Our hope as “citizens of heaven”

Jesus taught us to pray that God’s kingdom would come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But, nonetheless, many Christians still think of heaven as primarily out there where God lives and think that our great hope for the future is that we will leave this crumby world and […]

Categories
Christology Ecclesiology Soteriology

God is not finished with ethnic Israel: Hurtado’s response to Wright

N. T. Wright devoted a large proportion of his massive tome, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, to the relationship between the church and Israel, and he argues for a total replacement, what is often dubbed “supersessionism.” Larry Hurtado posits that Wright is correct on a couple of very important points: Repeatedly, Wright takes the […]

Categories
Christology

How a high Christology may have developed early in the church’s understanding.

We often hear it said that the church developed a belief in the deity of Jesus slowly, over many years. In N. T. Wright’s latest treatise, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, he contests this idea, and Scot McKnight has very helpfully restated Wright’s argument. Wright sums up his thesis this way: This brings us […]

Categories
Christology Soteriology

Jesus: substitute or representative?

When people argue that Jesus was a “representative” for sinners but not a “substitute,” I always find their statements puzzling. Much as I have tried, I have never been able to grasp their point. So I was delighted to read some comments by N. T. Wright this morning, as I read a fine review of […]

Categories
Soteriology

Justification: imputation, and final basis

Today, I was reading a review, the particulars of which are not relevant, but the author speaks of “N. T. Wright’s brand of the New Perspective, in explaining justification: . . . . imputation of Christ’s righteousness is refuted; . . . and there is a final eschatological justification based on the faithful life lived.” […]