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Title: The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God)
ISBN: 0800626818
Author:
N. T. Wright
Publicate Date: 1992-09
Publish: 1992-09
List Price: $38.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $20.41
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $17.17
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1: One of the most important New Testament scholars of our day
As a Confessional Lutheran, it might seem odd that I am giving an NT Wright book five stars. Though I disagree with his interpretation of Paul, I must admit that NT Wright is one of the most brilliant scholars of our day. It is refreshing to see a scholar of such high caliber that takes the Biblical material seriously.
The first 144 pages of this book may be hard to get through for some. They describe Wright's methodology, and are much more philosophical than theological, or historical. I urge you to get through this section, because it is essential to understanding NT Wrights understanding of the whole New Testament. Wright rejects two forms of modern epistemology: phenomenalism, and positivism. The categories of objective and subjective are wrong according to Wright, because knowledge involves both the known and the knower. He defines his own epistemology as "critical realism." Wright shows his readers how no document is written apart from the authors preconcieved view of the world. In the same way, one who comes to a text brings his own worldview to it. Thus, to understand a document, one must go inside the worldview of the writer, which Wright sees as primarilly narrative. To understand the New Testament, we must have some knowledge of Jewish thought in the second temple period.
In the second section of the book, Wright overviews the events of the intertestamental period which provide a backdrop for the New Testament. He then analyzes the worldview of second temple Judaism. He recognizes that there are many differences within Judaism, and one should speak of "Judaisms", however, there was still a unifying worldview behind it all. This worldview included the main ideas of monotheism, creation, election, and covenant. Wright explains that it is not right to speak of Systematic Theology is second temple Judaism. It was much more a way of life, and a narrative one was a part of than a set theology. For example, in the second temple period the Shema was not a statement about God's ontological oneness as some Jews defined it after the Christian dogma of the trinity, but it was about Israel's God as the true God against all others. One point I do disagree with Wright on is the idea that Jews believed themselves to still be in exile because they were under Roman oppression. The Jews certainly did hope for a future restoration, where they would triumph over their oppressors, however, that does not mean they were still in exile. Rather, the promise had not yet come to fulfillment, though it had been partially fulfilled.
The third part of this book discusses the Christian narrative as compared to the Jewish. Wright shows that Christianity took the Jewish narrative and reworked it around the death and resurrection of Christ. He shows how the gospels are each in their own ways retellings of the story of Israel through the life of Jesus.
There are a few things I disagree with in this book. I think Wright's focus on narrative may be playing to much into the postmodern mindset of meta-narrative, and can demean propositional truth. I believe his view of Paul is wrong because he forces narrative when there is none. The New Testament can be systematic and deeply theological, yet that does not downplay the necessity of the continuous narrative of Israel fulfilled in Christ. Proposition and narrative are not mutually exclusive. I also disagree with Wright's interpretation of the Son of man in Daniel as being Israel and not a messianic figure (who of course is Christ). However, overall this is a fantastic book, and there is not nearly enough space for me to describe all that this book entails. Any serious student of the New Testament needs this book.
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2: IMPORTANT WORKS DESERVE LARGER PRINT
This book is all I had come to expect from reading Wrights shorter books and from listening to him speak on YouTube.
I bought the first 3 volumes in the series and received volumes 2 and 3 first. I was really looking forward to volume 1 as this builds the base for what is to come and as such is referred back to often in the later volumes.
My gripe is not about content, viewpoints, arguments etc. It concerns something much more mundane. I hate the smaller physical size of volume one and its consequently smaller print. This is a travesty. I am greatly disappointed in Fortress who for the sake of a few shekels (less paper and fewer pages) 'short changed' the readers of Wright by making his work physically less accessible.
Wright is well worth the effort thrust on the reader by someone at Fortress. I am not sure what to think of the folks at Fortress that allowed this decision to go forward. Whoever made this production decision should be severely reprimanded for excessively poor judgment. That decision if economically based only is a classic case where the bean counters should have been treated to a deaf ear.
Bravo to whoever at Fortress made the decision to increase the size of the later volumes. Well done! Thank you from a very pleased purchaser.
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3: An excellent volume for NT background and theology
Wright's work here is simply staggering in its scope. It is truly amazing how much information he has compiled in this relatively small volume (less than 500 pages, excluding appendices). He explores an array of questions that are pertinent to NT studies, particularly the world of the NT and dominant theological trends. The main critique I have against this book is that sections of it are somewhat pedantic. I would certainly give this book five stars if it were slightly more readable. If you stick with Wright through the dense parts, you will be richly rewarded. Highly recommended.
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4: Wright has done his homework
How do you sum up a book of this density in only a few paragraphs. This book is a monumental work and I found it very helpful in understanding the historical climate surrounding Second Temple Judaism. Wright is a first class historian of the highest calibre. I have never Bibliography list that long before. He has certainly done his homework.
Like another reviewer has said this is a dense read and you need to take time to reflect on what he says. At one point I was reading 2 pages a day. I skipped most of the first section and went straight to the history. I'm not interested in epistemology yet....
This is not for the lay theologian, its aimed at scholars who are familiar with the various forms of literature and schools of thought out there. I'm not so a lot of this book has been over my head.
The Chapters I found most useful are Chapters 6 - Judaism in a Greco Roman world and Chapters 9-10 about the beliefs and hope of Israel - Its worth noting that Wright also says trying to present a coherent statement about the beliefs of a nation one is walking onto a minefield. Its particularly difficult and wright does an excellent job.
I love the section on the early Church, and his exposition of the themes in the gospels particularly Luke. Never have I seen the parrallels between Lukes gospel and the story of Samuel. WOW ! Blew my mind.
If you have some theological training then this book will be food for your eager mind. This is not Christian living book in the typical sense of someone like Yancey or Lucado, it is history and history in the most scholarly context.
Well worth the price I paid for it, but my only complaint (apart from not understanding some of it) was the shoddy job done by the publisher. Surely a book of this magnitude should have a hard cover and not a sloppy soft cover.
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5: A great beginning to an excellent series
I have just finished reading this book after coming across Wright's shorter work, The Challenge of Jesus" which I also highly recommend.
This book lays a good foundation for the ambitious project Wright is undertaking to explain Jesus, Paul and the New Testament.
The first section of the book explains the need for History, Theology and Literature to be interlinked. Wright explains that neither positivism nor phenomenalism are good ways of explaining the world. He argues for a new hermeneutic: the hermeneutic of Love. He also uses the term 'critical realism' to explain this.
In part two he goes deeper into the explanations of narrative and worldview with some very useful insights and ideas. Such as the reality of public and private spheres of knowledge, instead of the well worn objective/subjective split. He also discusses the enlightenment and its values and the necessity for different ideas in theology than pantheism and deism.
The third part of the book is a massive account of Judea and its people from the 100's BC to the 100's AD. It includes explanations of Jewish beliefs, hopes and worldviews. How their interpretive framework of the world operated.
The fourth portion of the book does the same for the early 1st century Christian movement. Wright critiques the different strands of Christianity and insists that Christianity of the first century was above all from a Jewish perspective and not, as Crossan and others postulate, a hellenistic movement that later became Jewish.
The final section sums up the entire book and sets the stage for the second book of the series, Jesus and the Victory of God. I promptly ordered that book as soon as I finished this first volume. It is very refreshing to see someone like Wright who is firmly rooted in history but can also sum up theology and narrative so well.
A definite must-read for any student of the bible and christianity. 5 stars all the way around.
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