For All God's Worth

by N. T. Wright

Publisher:

SPCK

, 1997

Overview

In this book, the author sets out to consider what is the appropriate approach to God, from a variety of real life and biblical starting points. He believes it is a question of recognizing God’s worth and worth-ship, which the origin of the word ‘worship’. It simply means giving God what He is worth.

Praise for the Print Edition

All Christians worship God, but many do not fully understand what "worship" means. For All God's Worth is an insightful exploration of both the meaning and the results of worship. Part 1 focuses on God and on what worshiping God actually means. Part 2 addresses a range of church-related issues that arise from the activity of worship. Based firmly on sensitive and creative readings of the biblical text, For All God's Worth is an inspiring call for renewal in the worship and witness of today's church. N. T. Wright is a New Testament theologian of international standing, a committed Christian, and (as For All God's Worth clearly demonstrates) an outstanding communicator.

—Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Title: For All God's Worth
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 144

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Tom Wright, commonly known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright, is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Andrews University. Previously, he was the bishop of Durham. He has researched, taught, and lectured on the New Testament at McGill, Oxford, and Cambridge Universities, and has been named by Christianity Today a top theologian. He is best known for his scholarly contributions to the historical study of Jesus and the New Perspective on Paul. His work interacts with the positions of James Dunn, E. P. Sanders, Marcus Borg, and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Wright has written and lectured extensively around the world, authoring more than forty books and numerous articles in scholarly journals and popular periodicals. He is best known for his Christian Origins and the Question of God Series, of which three of the anticipated six volumes are finished.

Sample Pages from the Print Edition

Contents

Top Highlights

“But the word ‘worship’ means, literally, ‘worth-ship’: to accord worth, true value, to something, to recognize and respect it for the true worth it has.” (Page 6)

“This little book is an attempt to say that the way through is by sheer unadulterated worship of the living and true God, and by following this God wherever he leads, whether or not it is the way our traditions would suggest. Worship is not an optional extra for the Christian, a self-indulgent religious activity. It is the basic Christian stance, and indeed (so Christians claim) the truly human stance. ‘Worship’ derives from ‘worth-ship’: it means giving God all he’s worth.” (Page 1)

“the purpose of a cathedral—and this would, of course, apply to any church anywhere—is worship and mission.” (Pages 7–8)

“The net result is that I become god; and this god I’ve made becomes my puppet. Nobody falls down on their face before the god they wanted. Nobody trembles at the word of a home-made god. Nobody goes out with fire in their belly to heal the sick, to clothe the naked, to teach the ignorant, to feed the hungry, because of the god they wanted. They are more likely to stay at home with their feet up.” (Pages 23–24)

“If Jesus is the Word of God, the answers might just take your breath away—and offer you God’s breath instead. When that happens, the first result is worship, worshipping God for all he’s worth; and the next result will be mission. That movement, that rhythm, is what this book is all about.” (Page 3)

Product Details

• Title: For All God’s Worth
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Publisher: SPCK
• Print Publication Date: 1997
• Logos Release Date: 2011
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Worship; Public worship; God › Worship and love
• ISBNs: 9780281050451, 0281050457
• Resource ID: LLS:FORGODSWORTH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:02:41Z

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (1948–) is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop and currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Christianity Today named him one of today's top theologians. 

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and recounts an awareness of God's presence from a young age—and that relationship with God ever since is reflected in his life and work. He's a prolific author; one of his most popular books, Surprised by Hope, frames the resurrection of the dead as the appropriate hope for all believers rather than an overemphasis on just "going to heaven when you die." He's among the leading theologians in the New Perspective on Paul debate. Wright has several honorary doctoral degrees, and in 2014, the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt Medal "in recognition of special service to biblical studies." In 2015, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Wright served as chaplain at Cambridge from 1978 to 1981, then as assistant professor of New Testament language and literature at McGill University in Montreal. Before becoming a chaplain, tutor, lecturer, and fellow at Oxford in 1986, Wright served as dean of Lichfield Cathedral, canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, and the bishop of Durham from 2003–10. In addition to the entire New Testament for Everyone Series, some of N. T. Wright's books include The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, Who Was Jesus, The New Testament and the People of God, God and the Pandemic, Evil and the Justice of God, Surprised by Hope, and Simply Christian. He coauthored Jesus the Final Days with Craig A. Evans.