Tom Wright’s History and Theology– Part Seven

Last updated on: November 7, 2019 at 1:26 am by Ben Witherington

Tom Wright’s History and Theology– Part Seven 2019-09-12T09:07:58-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On p. 155 Tom sums up how he sees the problem of modernity in dealing with Christ– “epistemology has tried to do without the notion of ‘love’, producing historical study a false antithesis of rationalist certainty-hunting on the one hand and skepticism on the other; Jesus and his first followers have been portrayed as holding an imminent-end-of-the-world belief which has distorted other features; and the question of God and the world, of which natural theology is one aspect, has suffered.” (p. 155). The result is Epicureanism banishment of God and his work from the human sphere has reigned, which distorted both history and eschatology, with the latter simply being rejected on the assumption that poor Jesus and Paul thought the world would end soon, and they were wrong.

Wright, in fact is arguing that our worldview should in key ways be much like the ancient Jewish worldview and that we should not caricature that ancient worldview as hopelessly wrong and out-dated. Here’s how he puts it: “We must not caricature ancient Jews and Christians as though they were naive cave-men, believing in a three decker universe with ‘supernatural’ upstairs,’natural’ downstairs, and something nasty down in the cellar….Perhaps some did take it literally, but that is not the main point. The main point is that Second Temple Jews assumed that heaven and earth were intended to overlap and did in fact overlap in certain contexts [‘i.e. in the temple or tabernacle where God’s presence was believed to dwell, or the sabbath which was seen as a foretaste of the final peace in the kingdom at the eschaton].” (p. 159).

“Jesus and the early Christians were not Epicureans, taking for granted a cosmos in which heaven and earth were radically separated. Nor for that matter were they Stoics, seeing the presence of divinity in all things. Nor certainly were they Platonists… like Israel’s scriptures they celebrated the goodness of creation and looked for its renewal.” (p. 160). Wright goes on to make his case for ‘overlap’ by focusing on the way the Temple was viewed as the juncture between heaven and earth, so a juncture in space, whereas the sabbath was a juncture in time where the foretaste of the future eschatological bliss could be enjoyed. I am less convinced than he is about the reading of the temple idea back into the creation story about a garden and two humans, and notice in Rev. 21-22 we have the garden and the river, but no temple.

More helpful is the discussion (pp. 170ff) of how humans, as bearing the image of God, are a point of contact or place of overlap between God and the world. As Tom says, being made in the image of God is not merely a statement of ontology, it is a statement of vocation we are to tend the garden, we are to rule the earth as God’s vice-regent and so on. God is a “working through humans God. He delights in delegated authority.”

And he is right in saying “the point of the life of heaven being brought into conjunction with earth is not to abolish earth, or to snatch humans away from it. as has routinely been assumed in the last two centuries, but to fill the earth with divine glory, or at least to give advance indications of that eventual intention. And the conjunction and the advance glory-filling are to take place through the work of the image-bearers, specifically the priests and kings.” (p. 175). Though he does not say so, one of the places where this preview of coming attractions can most readily be seen is in true worship of God. What he does say is the cross is where we best see the conjunction. “The cross would now be the dangerous location where heaven and earth would meet, thus taking the place of the ziggurat, of Noah’s Ark, of the Tower of Babel, of Jacob’s ladder– and now also of the wilderness tabernacle, and the Jerusalem temple whose destruction Jesus had announced in symbolic action and apocalyptic prophecy.” (p. 179).

I would say the cross is where we see God’s justice meet human injustice, God’s love meet human’s hate, God’s life poured out for us meets human propensity to kill, or have a death wish, God’s redemption meets human God forsakeness, forgiving sin and rescuing the sinner.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 6, 2019

Tom Wright's History and Eschatology--- Part Six

Next Post

November 8, 2019 Tom Wright's History and Eschatology-- Part Eight

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz