Following Jesus
I intend over the next two weeks to provide a summary of N.T. Wright's Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship. It is a compilation of twelve sermons in which Wright outlines the essential message of six New Testament books (Hebrews, Colossians, Matthew, John, Mark, and Revelation) looking in particular at their portrayal of Jesus and what he accomplished in his sacrificial death, and then he takes six key New Testament themes (resurrection, rebirth, temptation, hell, heaven, and new life) and considers their significance for the lives of present-day disciples. If you think that sounds dry, then you've never heard or read Wright's sermons before! He is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and is an outstanding bible scholar, defender of Christianity, writer, and speaker. I have read Following Jesus before, but I want to take a de novo look at it for myself and so that others might be spurred to read and profit from it. We'll look at a chapter each day, so be sure to come back. You'll be able to click on the "Following Jesus" link under the "By Subject" heading in the left column to read all the entries.
2 comments:
Sounds great. I've heard of N.T. Wright but can't remember if I have read any of his writing - maybe excerpts in Christianity Today.
I first heard of him in this article in CT from 1999, but it wasn't until 2004 or so that I became much more familiar with him. His Romans in a Week and Romans in a Day (These are available online: 1, 2, and 3) lectures at Calvin College are classics. He is so interesting and easy to listen to that you don't really think about how he is perhaps the preeminent New Testament scholar in the world. A few evangelicals have expressed some reservation about him because he refuses to use some traditional language, like "inerrant" for example, to describe the Bible; but this is because he has some problems with the traditional formulations and not because he rejects the idea. In fact, I am struck again and again with how committed he is to the authority of scripture. This is one of the reasons he has stood so firmly against the ordination of homosexuals in the Anglican Church.
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