We all are tempted to define “neighbor” so we don’t have too much discomfort in our lives. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the young Jewish leader wants to feel good about his life. He tries to justify his own goodness, leading to a very uncomfortable story from Jesus. NT Wright has this applicationContinue reading “Who IS my neighbor?”
Tag Archives: N T Wright
Do not read a book for YOUR argument
I am finishing Paul: A Biography by N.T. Wright and my oldest son was looking at it briefly. He mentioned a guy he knows doesn’t call himself a Christian but says the Apostle Paul is the one that is relevant. Not even Jesus, who was to the Jews only. I advised my son to putContinue reading “Do not read a book for YOUR argument”
The Feast of the Conversion of Paul
Today is remembered in much of the Church as the “conversion of Paul.” I am working my way through N.T. Wright’s great work, Paul: A Biography. Wright rekindles my love for Paul and his work. Paul was one who caught the vision of a truly new social reality and then worked like crazy to communicateContinue reading “The Feast of the Conversion of Paul”
Our misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God
I truly wish I could articulate better what I truly believe in the deepest part of my soul about the Kingdom of God. N.T. Wright helps me. He articulates the vision of the Kingdom in a way I understand… but then I try to repeat it… and… ugh. There is so much to “undo” inContinue reading “Our misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God”
The King of Glory is coming in
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den ofContinue reading “The King of Glory is coming in”
The revolution of mission
I am not saved simply to “go to heaven.” I am saved to understand I have been restored as an image bearer of God and there is a mission given… a human vocation. N.T. Wright: The “royal priesthood” is the company of rescued humans who, being part of “earth,” worship the God of heaven andContinue reading “The revolution of mission”
The day the revolution began
“The death of Jesus was the moment when the great gate of human history, bolted with iron bars and overgrown with toxic weeds, burst open so that the Creator’s project of reconciliation between heaven and earth could at last be set in powerful motion. The myrtle will at last replace the brier, and the cypressContinue reading “The day the revolution began”
The Gospel and “Defund the Police”
One of the mantras conservative white Christians have decided to “debunk” so we can get back to our safety bunkers is “Defund the Police.” It really caught our attention after the murder of George Floyd.
“Being saved” and “getting to heaven”
When we have typically thought of the gospel in western evangelicalism, it has been around the questions like, “How are my sins forgiven?” and “How do I get to heaven?” N.T. Wright turns my thinking in a different direction:
Domesticating the Cross of Christ
“It is startling to reflect on just how diminished the average modern Western Christian vision of ‘hope,’ of ‘inheritance,’ or indeed of ‘forgiveness’ itself has become. We have exchanged the glory of God for a mess of spiritualized, individualistic and moralistic pottage.And in the middle of it we have radically distorted the meaning of theContinue reading “Domesticating the Cross of Christ”
Apprentice 2 Jesus 