becoming

Wright was interviewed at Asbury’s.

[HT: ntwrightpage.com]

Mark Roberts寫出了我的心聲：

Here is my fear, however. John Piper is very influential, especially among the kinds of people who would be troubled by Wright’s take on Paul. I’m afraid that many will buy and read Piper’s book before and even without ever reading Wright himself. Then they’ll quote or paraphrase Piper, without even reading Paul himself. This, I suggest, is neither Reformed, nor evangelical, nor even especially Christian. One who reads Piper should also read Wright himself, and, more importantly, should dive into a fresh examination of Scripture.

….When I read Piper’s critique and any other, and as I continue to wrestle with Wright’s own view, my main question will be: Who does the best job interpreting Paul? If it turns out that the Reformation misconstrued some of what Paul actually meant, that’s too bad, but so be it. If it turns out that we preachers have to revise what we’ve preached about justification and righteousness on the basis of what the Bible actually says, so be it. Of all people, we who stand in the line of the Reformation should seek, above all and at any cost, to grasp the true meaning of Scripture and to stake our lives and ministries on it.

Wright was at Asbury earlier and was interviewed by Trevin Wax, a MDiv student at Southern seminary.

You can listen to the interview here. The whole transcript can be read here.

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Yes, Wright showed signs of frustration when he answered questions after questions regarding those who criticized his works. But other than that, there are just too much good stuff that you simply can’t afford to ignore.

Romans 2, Galatians 2; Carson, Piper and Moo; On church and state, his writing projects, etc…,

Read on!

From frustration and sympathy with what he went through before, to a point which I actually started to laugh out loud now: this is what happened when I read NTW tedious reply to someone who wrote to him and accuse him by some libellous claims:

When it comes to Paul, I have spent my life trying to understand his letters in great detail. If you want to disagree with my interpretations, please disagree with what I say, and show where I am getting it wrong, rather than listening to people who tell you that I am saying (for instance) that my belief is some kind of new revelation. Of course it isn’t! I am teaching what Paul is teaching, and I am happily and gladly open to anyone showing me that my understanding of the text is wrong. But please read what I have said, and the reasons I have given for it, before you say things like ‘we don’t need God’s righteousness to stand before righteous God’. Read what I say about the meaning of ‘God’s righteousness’ in Paul. Weigh it with what the whole scripture says — the Psalms and Isaiah and so on as well as Paul himself. Do what the Beroeans did in Acts 17: search the scriptures to see whether these things are so, rather than assume, like the Jews in Thessalonica, that any interpretation of scripture which you haven’t met before must be angrily rejected.

Read the whole thing from Alastair here.

Although I am also a bit surprised by Köstenberger's inclusion of Wright's works given his own theological training and background, I think in a way, this is the best illustration as to what any student of the Word should always have in mind: 

Köstenberger replied:

Justification is not a major issue in Colossians and Philemon. There is still much to be learned from Wright comments on Romans (the same can be said for Dunn). I don’t have to agree with someone on every issue to be able to learn from them. Also, it’s always a good idea to look at more than one commentary in any case, because no commentary is perfect or covers every conceivable angle.

Just how many people can attest to that?

Hilda questioned the attitude of nowadays Christians on worship. Her comment reminded me of the following quote:

Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God's truth, not its own. True worship doesn't put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn't forced, isn't half-hearted, doesn't keep looking at its watch, doesn't worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.

… Worship is nothing more nor less than love on its knees before the beloved; just as mission is love on its feet to serve the beloved — and just as Eucharist, as the climax of worship, is love embracing the beloved and so being strengthened for service.

N.T. Wright, For All God's Worth, p.9

AL from adversaria has written a great biography on NTW where he situates all Wright's major works into it.

And of course, if you want to read the *real* story of Tom, you have to click here. 

Yeah, exactly, why? I asked the same question a while back.

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Oh my goodness, but this is what you get when you put Wright on the table — namely, you have to write a 4471 -word long comment!