Book Review: "The New Testament and the People of God" -- N.T. Wright

Fortress Press published The New Testament and the People of God (NTPG) in 1992.  It is, one might claim, an old book to be reviewing now.  But this review is timely, I think, for two reasons.  First, NTPG is the foundational volume of what has become a three--and soon to be four--volume collection by N.T. Wright, "Christian Origins and the Question of God."  My review of this first volume will set the stage for my review of the fourth--Paul and the Faithfulness of God (PFG).

Second, although it came out in 1992, the ideas in NTPG have not been discussed or applied practically as often as they ought by those interested in Christianity--whether that interest be related to theology or history or missions or apologetics.  Problematically, many have been deterred by it's difficult academic styling and seemingly impenetrable density.

But. 

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My Transition into Seminary

During the past few months I've been absent from the blogosphere.  I know, you've been struggling to fill the void my absence has torn into your heart, and for that I'm deeply sorry.  But--fear not!  Your satisfaction with life will, along with my blogging, soon resume.  Warning: Satisfaction in life can only actually be found in God.

I'm settling in at Gordon Conwell, preparing for my classes which begin Monday.  The books on my reading list excite me.  And they will, no doubt, stir up many a philosophical/theological thought, which will, in turn, find a way through my fingers and onto the screen before you.  So do be sure to put your email address into the box on the right that says, "Subscribe To Keep Up!"

I am still working on a review for N.T. Wright's New Testament and the People of God, but it has taken me longer than expected.  I'll be releasing the first part in the coming few days.

Quote of the Month about Jesus

Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God

The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.

Can "The Wrath of God" and "God is Love" Be Reconciled?

This is a post for people who are curious about the core teachings of the Christian faith.  I'm not one to claim that I've got everything figured out, but I want to get you thinking.  Oh, and I changed the title of this blog because of a conversation with a friend today.

Over at The Blog for InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network I have been writing a review series on J.I. Packer's Knowing God, which is a collection of short articles on the nature of God and humankind.  Here I want to revise the series, but I'm going to do it backwards, starting with the final installment and ending with the first.


The Problem

There's a common thought among many outside observers of those following the Way of Jesus.  I've overheard people talk about Jesus' death as a strange act of cosmic child abuse, employed to change the mind of the angry God of the Old Testament.  But this, as J.I. Packer puts it, is a polytheistic misunderstanding of the gospel. Jesus is the same in character as the God of the Old Testament.  Jesus and the God of the Old Testament have the same essence.

Far from being cosmic child abuse, the death of Jesus was a self-sacrificial death.

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Best Christian Books of All Time Review Series: Knowing God Pt. III

Over at InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Blog I just finished the last of a three part review series on J.I. Packer's Knowing God.  Click here to read it.  

"Packer moves seamlessly from a discussion of judgment and anger to one of propitiation. Propitiation is a fancy word used to deliver the message that an entirely holy, all powerful God can hang out in intimacy with people who, having rejected his help, are anything but holy and powerful."

Quote of the Month about Jesus

The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word. Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of knowing Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.

~Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Note:  I really recommend this book, even for those who are not Christians.  It awakens the heart of our truest humanity.

Developing a Study of New Testament Greek: A Very Brief Introduction

If you're interested in the scholarly study of the New Testament and its language, this article is for you.  If not, you may as well go read something about whaling off the coast of Japan or the politics of abortion.

The following article attempts to set up an argument for a particular method of the study of the Greek of the New Testament. In order to reach my conclusion I’ve made use of several arguments which build upon one another, ending eventually with the examination of Relevance Theory, a tool employed by linguists in the study of language and its cognition. I begin with an analysis of a classic argument put forth by Adolf Deissmann on the commonality of New Testament Greek in first century Roman Palestine. Then, building upon that, I analyze James Moulton’s argument for the spoken value of the New Testament, especially with regard to Paul’s epistles. Finally, I examine a recent thesis put forward by a University of Edinburgh scholar of Hellenistic Greek (κοινή) for the value of the linguistic tool of Relevance Theory as it relates to the particle ἵνα ("hina"). This paper is a very brief introduction and therefore moves rather quickly through the arguments here employed. I hope to continue this project as I move forward with my study of the New Testament and its language and social setting.

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