How God Became King: Getting to the heart of the Gospels
Ebook
'It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known them . . . we have all forgotten what the four Gospels are about.'
With that surprising assertion, Tom Wright launches this ground-breaking work in which he helps us to see the gospel story in radically a new light, and to acknowledge that, for many generations, the Church has been avoiding its full impact and holding back from proclaiming its full meaning.
'Classic Wright: clear, accessible, robust, engaging and challenging.'
Paula Gooder in Third Way
'Scholarly, accessible, insightful and provocative.'
Christianity
'Wright argues compellingly that the twin themes of kingdom and cross are inseparably linked. . . This is a much-needed reorientation. The book makes its case for 'rethinking' cogently and deserves widespread attention.'
Theology
Preface ix
one: the empty cloak
1. The Missing Middle 3
2. The Opposite Problem 25
All Body, No Cloak
3. The Inadequate Answers 41
two: adjusting the volume
4. The Story of Israel 61
5. The Story of Jesus as the Story of Israel's God 83
6. The Launching of God's Renewed People 105
7. The Clash of the Kingdoms 127
three: the kingdom and the cross
8. Where We Get Stuck 157
Enlightenment, Power and Empire
9. Kingdom and Cross in Four Dimensions 175
10. Kingdom and Cross 211
The Remaking of Meanings
four: creed, canon and gospel
11. How to Celebrate God’s Story 253
Further Reading 277
Scripture Index 279
- Title: How God Became King: Getting to the heart of the Gospels
- Author: N. T. Wright
- Publisher: SPCK Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2012
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780281068906, 9780281061464, 0281061467, 0281068909
- Resource ID: LLS:9780281068906
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-02-01T01:07:24Z
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.