Saturday, January 06, 2007

Thy will be done on earth - NT Wright in CT

Here's a link to a Christianity Today interview with NT Wright about communicating the gospel in a post-Christian society. He says,
Because I've done all that historical work, my view of the gospel and how it works out in the real world has been deepened and enriched in all kinds of ways that I would never have guessed 25 years ago when I was starting out writing about Jesus. So in Simply Christian there's a lot about justice, what it means to be human in the mandate to work, the putting to rights of God's world, generating beauty, alleviating poverty, working with ecology. Thirty years ago I would have said those were secondary issues.

...the great emphasis in the New Testament is that the gospel is not how to escape the world; the gospel is that the crucified and risen Jesus is the Lord of the world. And that his death and Resurrection transform the world, and that transformation can happen to you. You, in turn, can be part of the transforming work. That draws together what we traditionally called evangelism, bringing people to the point where they come to know God in Christ for themselves, with working for God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. That has always been at the heart of the Lord's Prayer, and how we've managed for years to say the Lord's Prayer without realizing that Jesus really meant it is very curious.

2 comments:

Westy said...

Interesting.
As I'm sure you're aware, N.T. Wright is one controversial fellow right now.
Here is a good rundown: Q & A on N.T. Wright
Do you have any thoughts?

Arloa Sutter said...

Hmm. Sorry to hear that. I have only read one of his books and didn't find anything unorthodox in it. I don't have time to track down everything people have said and written and I also don't feel I need to agree with everything someone writes to affirm the good in what I am quoting from them. I am saddened by those who set out to discredit voices who are advocating for social justice.