N.T. Wright – The Challenge of Jesus

Last updated on: September 4, 2006 at 2:23 pm by Tim Suttle

N.T. Wright – The Challenge of Jesus 2006-09-04T14:23:00-06:00 Tim Suttle

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.

The Challenge of Jesus
Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is

Whatever you may think of N.T. Wright, you have to respect the ambitious writing/thinking adventure he has undertaken from which he hopes to author 6 large volume works under the heading of Christian Origins and the Question of God.

– The New Testament and the People of God
– Jesus and the Victory of God
– The Resurrection of the Son of God

I think the next one is on Paul, but I’m not really sure. These are 5-700 page books. I’ve heard him say before that the reason they are so exhaustive is that he tries to deal with all of the anticipated objections to the ideas he puts forth, as he puts forth those ideas. He is dealing w/every exception that he can in order to force the academy to entertain his ideas instead of their objections to his ideas. He is nearly universally considered one of the brightest minds working in theology today. No matter what your background if you are working in New Testament theology you have to deal with N.T. Wright in some fashion.

I did not read one of these huge books, luckily Wright condenses these books into much simpler and shorter books which normal people like me can actually read and at least somewhat understand. The Challenge of Jesus is one such book. Wright is a Bishop in the Anglican Church; I think he’s in Durham. His primary field is Historical study but he’s a New Testament Theology guy as well. He is doing historical Jesus study and working from that to interpret scripture and rebuild some theologies which have been distorted over time because a lack of understanding of the world in which Jesus lived.

He starts with the idea that the typical Jewish person in the 1st century would understand Israel to still be in exile in their own land. 2nd Temple Judaism was concerned with this idea that there would be a Messiah who would come to lead them out of exile. Jesus came as a prophet of the new kingdom, first enacting it and then explaining it.

Wright explains that the typical Jewish person in the 1st century would understand Israel to still be in exile in their own land. Their self-conception was formed around two ideas “election” and “eschatology.” This simply means that God had chosen to reveal God’s self and work about God’s purposes in the world through Israel (election), and that God was bringing redemptive history to a great climax (eschatology). In this climax the Messiah would come to rebuild the Temple and fight a decisive battle against the enemy.

The end of exile will only come after a true confession of sins according the Old Testament. Christ becomes this true confession for Israel. Think of how many times Jesus forgives sins in the New Testament! Each of these cases preceding the actual sacrifice of Jesus. This idea somewhat flies in the face of those who insist God demands a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus forgave sins as a matter of course – generally without the subject even asking for this! Wright works liberally with several of the parables, I can’t go into detail on these but suffice it to say that in most of these cases he demonstrates how the exile theme is present

Christ died a failed Messiah by most Jewish conceptions. (Messiah was not supposed to be divine in Jewish thought, nor did the terms Son of Man or Son of God connote divinity – son of man was probably just a term Jesus used for himself and as such shouldn’t even be in capital letters; Son of God is a Messianic term, not a term of divinity…remember these are strict monotheists). Jews were not expecting God in flesh.

Wright explains the parables in terms of a return from exile in such a way as to show that Jesus was actually reconstituting the people of God in a new community. He was acting out God’s rejection (think of the Temple scene from Mark) of Israel for her stubborn insistence to travel down the path of violent revolution or strict purity (i.e., the Zealots & Pharisees/Qumran). Instead Jesus would actually embody Israel and respond correctly as Messiah, and eventually be killed for it. In the life of Jesus and his parables, he enacts and explains the reality that God’s presence has left the Temple and is now mobile and actually living in Christ himself. The decisive battle would not be fought with violence, but with self-sacrifice.

When pressing in on the question of Jesus’ self-conception, (e.g., did Jesus know he was God?), Wright insists that the way the question is phrased forces you into categories of thought which can only obscure the truth. Instead of a straight up yes or no, he forces us to take a look at Jesus’ self-conception in terms of vocation. Wright says “He believed he had to do and be for Israel and the world what according to the scripture only YHWH himself could do and be.” He then expounds on that theme and says that our job as 21st century Christians is to do and be for our world was Jesus had done and been for Israel and the world.

I haven’t even scratched the surface of what all Wright covers in this great book. I highly recommend reading it. It’s not that dense of writing, you can just tell he’s trying not to use big words! If you don’t have the patience you can listen to four lectures he gives which basically cover all of the material. Go to this great N.T. Wright page and scroll down to the “Wright Audio/Video” heading. Listen to the first four lectures:

– Jesus and the Kingdom
– Jesus and the Cross
– Jesus and God
– Jesus and the World’s True Light

They are great summaries of the material and are way better than anything I’ve written here. I’m hoping you’ll listen to a couple if not all of these lectures because we can talk about the book even if all you’ve done is listen to these 4 short talks (I think they are all under 40 minutes).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 28, 2006

New Satellite Soul Release

Next Post

September 20, 2006 Gospel of Mark, Part I

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion corruption Donald Trump elections Empire Entertainment Ezra Klein ideology Justice Lacan politics race Sports Ta-Nehisi Coates Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 March 2026 September 2025 March 2025 June 2024 January 2024 December 2023 May 2023 February 2023 October 2022 April 2022 March 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 September 2020 July 2020 June 2020 March 2020 September 2019 July 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 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 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What food did Jesus multiply to feed 5,000 people?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bread and wine Grapes and figs Quail and manna Loaves and fish