Christian Origins and the Question of God Series, by N. T. Wright (Vols. 1–3)

As an important scholar of the New Testament and a prolific author and lecturer, N. T. Wright’s books have been highly influential in the study of Jesus, Paul, and early Christianity. Wright’s Christian Origins and the Question of God series—now available from Logos Bible Software—contains the three completed books in the projected six-volume series: The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God.

The New Testament and the People of God

• Publisher: SPCK, 1992
• 535 pages

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

This first volume in the series Christian Origins and the Question of God provides a historical, theological, and literary study of first-century Judaism and Christianity. Wright offers a preliminary discussion of the meaning of the word god within those cultures, as he explores the ways in which developing an understanding of those first-century cultures are of relevance for the modern world.

In this volume Wright trains a penetrating historical and theological spotlight on first-century Palestinian Judaism. By describing the history, social make-up, worldview, beliefs, and hope of Palestinian Judaism, Wright familiarizes the reader with ‘the world of Judaism’ as situated within the world of Greco-Roman culture. This is a highly informative book! It provides the reader not only with a sweeping assessment of Jewish history but also with the careful exploration of the symbolic world of Judaism. Eminently accessible to students, scholars will find it interesting and provocative. It deserves a place of privilege on the bookshelf of any serious student of the New Testament.
—Jack Dean Kingsbury

The sweep of Wright’s project as a whole is breathtaking. It is impossible to give a fair assessment of his achievement without sounding grandiose; no New Testament scholar since Bultmann has even attempted—let alone achieved—such an innovative and comprehensive account of New Testament history and theology.
—Richard B. Hays

Jesus and the Victory of God

• Publisher: SPCK, 1996
• 741 pages

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

In this eagerly awaited second volume, N. T. Wright offers a penetrating assessment of the major scholarly contributions to the current ‘quest’ for the historical Jesus. He then sets out in fascinating detail of his own compelling account of how Jesus himself understood his mission: how he believed himself called to remake Israel, the people of God, around himself; how he announced God’s judgment on the Israel of his day, especially its Temple and hierarchy; and how he saw his own movement as the divinely ordained fulfillment of Israel’s destiny. This revolutionary message, articulated in parables and acted out symbolically in healings and celebratory meals, drew Jesus to Jerusalem—where, as he came to realize, his vocation demanded that he would die the death he had announced for the people. In obedience to this vocation, Jesus had come to realize that he was claiming to do and be what, in Jewish thought, only God can do and be.

N. T. Wright [is] one of the most formidable of traditionalist Bible scholars.
—Richard N. Ostling, Time magazine

With this brilliant and thoroughly argued book, N. T. Wright has established himself as the leading British Jesus scholar of his generation. He thinks we can know quite a bit about the aims and beliefs of Jesus—not just about what he said and did but about the mind of Jesus himself.
—Marcus Borg, author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

Tom Wright’s bold and brilliant book challenges us to rethink everything we thought we knew about the Jesus of history. Wright masterfully surveys the field of research on Jesus and proposes a fresh account of Jesus as a first-century Jewish apocalyptic prophet. . . . The result? A portrait of Jesus that situates him firmly ‘on the ground’ in the politics of first-century Judaism while integrating the data of the Gospel traditions in original and surprising ways. Wright’s sweeping hypothesis, presented in delightful lucid prose, sets a benchmark for all subsequent investigations of the historical Jesus.
—Richard B. Hays, Duke University Divinity School

The Resurrection of the Son of God

• Publisher: SPCK, 2003
• 817 pages

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

In this volume, N. T. Wright takes us on a fascinating journey through ancient beliefs about life after death, from the shadowy figures who inhabit Homer’s Hades, through Plato’s hope for a blessed immortality, to the first century, where the Greek and Roman world (apart from the Jews) consistently denied any possibility of resurrection. We then examine ancient Jewish beliefs on the same subject, from the Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls and beyond.

This sets the scene for a full-scale examination of early Christian beliefs about resurrection in general and that of Jesus in particular, beginning with Paul and working through to the start of the third century. Wright looks at all the evidence, and asks: Why did Christians agree with Jewish resurrection belief while introducing into it—across the board—significant modifications?

To answer this question we come to the strange and evocative Easter stories in the gospels and asks whether they can have been late inventions. Wright seeks the best historical conclusions about the empty tomb and the belief that Jesus really did rise bodily from the dead, recognizing that it was this belief that caused early Christians to call Jesus “Son of God.” In doing so, they posed a political challenge as well as a theological one. These challenges retain their power in the twenty-first century.

Theological books can be almost incomprehensible for the ordinary reader. It is a measure of the book’s power and interest that, when I was interrupted in my reading by an unexpected but usually welcome guest, I could hardly conceal my impatience to resume reading. No greater compliment could surely be paid by the lay reader to a distinguished work of theology . . . I shall return many times and always with the expectation of fresh enlightenment and new discoveries.
—P.D. James

A fascinating tale, whose denouement is as gripping as any detective story . . . a masterpiece of lucidity and scholarship.
—Marry Ann Sieghart