Category: N.T. Wright

“First, as to aim and method. When I began research on Paul, thirty years ago this autumn, my aim was to understand Paul in general and Romans in particular better than I had done before, as part of my heartfelt and lifelong commitment to scripture, and to the sola scriptura principle, believing that the better the church understands and lives by scripture the better its worship, preaching and common life will be. I was conscious of thereby standing methodologically in the tradition of the reformers, for whom exegesis was the lifeblood of the church, and who believed that scripture should stand over against all human traditions. I have not changed this aim and this method, nor do I intend to. Indeed, the present controversy, from my own point of view, often appears to me in terms of a battle for the Reformers’ aims and methods – going back to scripture over against all human tradition – against some of their theological positions (and, equally, those of their opponents, since I believe that often both sides were operating with mistaken understandings of Paul). I believe that Luther, Calvin, and many of the others would tell us to read scripture afresh, with all the tools available to us – which is after all what they did – and to treat their own doctrinal conclusions as important but not as important as scripture itself. That is what I have tried to do, and I believe I am honouring them thereby.” —N.T.Wright

In the next Tabletalk article, Derek Thomas asks whether N.T. Wright is a new Luther, whether or not he comes in the spirit and power of Luther… Read the entire article.

N.T. Wright elaborates on the necessity of Word and Sacrament in the Church in his book Following Jesus:

The visible word and the written word – or, if you like, the edible bread and the audible bread – go closely together, as they did for the two on the Emmaus road in Luke 24. Following Jesus, after all, involves heart, mind, soul, and strength. A church without sermons will soon have a shriveled mind, then a wayward heart, next an unquiet soul, and finally misdirected strength. A church without sacraments will find its strength cut off, its soul undernourished, its heart prey to conflicting emotions, and its mind engaged in increasingly irrelevant intellectual games. (xi)

The good bishop says Protestantism is a much better alternative than Rome. In describing Rome’s view of authority he writes:

Rome is a big, splendid, dusty old ocean liner, with lots of grand cabins, and, at present, quite a fine captain and some excellent officers — but also quite a few rooms in need of repair. Yes, it may take you places, but it’s slow and you might get seasick from time to time. And the navigators have been told that they must never acknowledge when they’ve been going in the wrong direction . . .

And concerning Trent’s teaching he says:

Sacramental, yes, but in a muddled way with an unhelpful ontology;

Transformational, yes, but far too dependent on unbiblical techniques and practices;

Communal, yes, but don’t let the laity (or the women) get any fancy ideas about God working new things through them;

Eschatological? Eschatology in the biblical sense didn’t loom large, and indeed that was a key element in the Reformers’ protest: the once-for-allness of the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection as producing, not a new system for doing the same stuff over and over, but a new world.

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

N.T. Wright on Nightline discusses Heaven

Heaven is Not our Home: An Interview with N.T. Wright

Douglas Wilson’s critique of Wright’s Economic Theories

Trevin Wax has provided another helpful and clear interview with Bishop Wright concerning his response to Piper’ s The Future of Justification.