Simply christian nt wright ebook

Then he proceeds to connect the story of the Bible to those questions and desires, and sketch out the responses of the Jewish and Christian faiths.

I found this book quite readable, yet deeply challenging and thought-provoking. Jan 15, Jocelyn rated it really liked it Shelves: religion. This seems like kind of a basic book for a professional Christian so to speak to read, but I was curious. It's a kind of 21st-century "Mere Christianity" with less apologia and more ecclesia. What I like about Wright's approach is that he stresses the "renewal of creation" salvation theory more than the "atonement for sin" theory. And, speaking of sin, I am frankly quite envious of how many books this man has written.

And, speaking of C. Lewis knock-offs, I see that a year ago Wright publis This seems like kind of a basic book for a professional Christian so to speak to read, but I was curious. Lewis knock-offs, I see that a year ago Wright published a book called "Surprised by Hope.

Feb 09, Drew rated it really liked it. Like most of Wright's material, Simply Christian is brilliant, yet missing much in seemingly key places. It seemed as if Wright was unsure of whether he was writing to a skeptic or a polemic against popular evangelicalism. But, for every one of those lesser moments, Wright brilliantly leads the reader to an understanding or insight not found in today's interpreters.

As always, I am glad to have heard Wright's insight. The last two chapters are worth the price of admission. Apr 14, Jennifer Trovato rated it it was amazing. A great explanation and reminder of why we do what we do as Christians. Beautifully written. He writes so charitably to Christianity as a whole, giving no sense of condemnation towards different denominations or preferences within the church, while maintaining a foundational orthodoxy and dedication to the truth of scripture and the importance of church.

Feb 11, Drew rated it really liked it. The title is a bit misleading. I don't think this book is about why Christianity makes sense a claim that naturally implies that other religions don't make sense , as much as it is about what it means to be a Christian. Yet N. Wright convincingly articulates though more convincing to those already predisposed to ideas of Christian faith what it means t The title is a bit misleading.

Wright convincingly articulates though more convincing to those already predisposed to ideas of Christian faith what it means to live a Christian life. Peterson and ancient Aristotle philosophers point to a line that runs through the heart of every person. As Wright puts it, "The line between justice and injustice, between things being right and things not being right, can't be drawn between 'us' and 'them'.

It runs right down through the middle of each one of us. The ancient philosophers, not least Aristotle, saw this as a wrinkle in the system, a puzzle at several levels. We all know what we ought to do give or take a few details ; but we all manage, at least some of the time, not to do it.

But an important part of the Christian faith is the fact that it "endorses the passion for justice which every human being knows, the longing to see things put to rights. The Hidden Spring Many people will say they don't mind religious or spiritual people as long as those people keep their religion and spirituality to themselves. Ironically, those same people often have deeply religious or spiritual experiences, but might be too afraid or ashamed to admit it.

There is clearly a desire among the religious and non-religious alike to understand the deep sense of spirit that runs through each of us. It can be called different names and explained in different ways through various philosophies of thought and modes of language, but its existence can't be denied.

Yet, in many ways the world denies it all the time. For example, Wright argues that, "[t]he skepticism that we've been taught for the last two hundred years has paved our world with concrete, making people ashamed to admit that they have had profound and powerful 'religious' experiences.

Those who want it can have enough to keep them going. Those who don't want their life, and their way of life, disrupted by anything 'religious' can enjoy driving along concrete roads, visiting concrete-based shopping malls, living in concrete-floored houses. Live as if the rumor of God had never existed! We are, after all, in charge of our own fate!

We are the captains of our own souls whatever they may be! That is the philosophy which has dominated our culture. From this point of view, spirituality is a private hobby, an up-market version of daydreaming for those who like that kind of thing.

Millions more, aware of the deep subterranean bubblings and yearnings of the water systems we call 'spirituality', which can no more ultimately be denied than can endless springs of water under thick concrete, have done their best secretly to tap into it, using the official channels the churches , but aware that there's more water available than most churches have let on.

Many more again have been aware of an indefinable thirst, a longing for springs of living, refreshing water that they can bathe in, delight in, and drink to the full. The official guardians of the old water system many of whom work in the media and in politics, and some of whom, naturally enough, work in the churches are of course horrified to see the volcano of 'spirituality' that has erupted in recent years.

All this 'New Age' mysticism, with Tarot cards, crystals, horoscopes, and so on; all this fundamentalism, with militant Christians, militant Sikhs, militant Muslims, and many others bombing each other with God on their side. Surely, say the guardians of the official water system, all this is terribly unhealthy? Surely it will lead us back to superstition, to the old chaotic, polluted, and irrational water supply?

They have a point. But they must face a question in response: Does the fault not lie with those who wanted to pave over the springs with concrete in the first place? September 11, , serves as a reminder of what happens when you try to organize a world on the assumption that religion and spirituality are merely private matters, and that what really matters is economics and politics instead. It wasn't just concrete floors, it was massive towers that were smashed to pieces that day, by people driven by 'religious' beliefs so powerful that the believers were ready to die for them.

What should we say? That this merely shows how dangerous 'religion' and 'spirituality' really are? Or that we should have taken them into account all along? This is a shallow understanding of what it means to be Christian. But then you have to ask, what does Wright mean by "taking them into account all along"? Does that mean George W. Bush should have given equal respect and credence to Islam in his national speeches?

Or should he have omitted all the Christian references, thus indicating no preference for any religion in the American tradition. For the Beauty of the Earth In Psalm 19, David says that when you look at the universe it is obvious that there is a God: 'The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim they work of his hands'. What is beauty and what is truth? And are they the same? As Keats wrote, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty.

If beauty were hidden in the beholder's eye, then 'truth' would be merely a way of talking about the inner feelings that went along with it. And that simply isn't how we normally use the word 'truth'. Beauty and truth are two powerful words that are associated with all sorts of equally powerful emotions.

We know what someone means when they say something is beautiful or that it has beauty, so much so that it would seem ridiculous to have them explain it any further. Beauty, "whether in the natural order or within human creation, is sometimes so powerful that it evokes our very deepest feelings of awe, wonder, gratitude, and reverence.

Almost all humans sense this some of the time at least, even though they disagree wildly about which things evoke which feelings and why. It's all a matter of evolutionary conditioning: you only like that particular scenery because your distant ancestors knew they could find food there. Still others "might quite reasonably suggest that it's all about vicarious pleasure: we would like to be among the guests at the dinner party in the painting. It seems we have to hold the two together: beauty is both something that calls us out of ourselves and something which appeals to feelings deep within us.

Their fundamental disagreements over the nature of 'truth' were apparent from the beginning. Wright touches on these differences in our understanding of truth: "On the one hand, some Harris want to reduce all truth to 'facts', things which can be proved in the way you can prove that oil is lighter than water, or even that two and two make four. On the other hand, some believe that all truth is relative, and that all claims to truth are merely coded claims to power. Within that complexity, we should be careful how we use the word 'truth'.

Christianity focuses on a deeper kind of knowing. It's a kind of knowing in which the subject and the object are intertwined, so that you could never say that it was either purely subjective or purely objective.

Heaven and Earth: The Puzzle Wright argues that there are three basic ways with variations in which we can imagine God's space and ours relating to one another. Option One is two slide the two spaces together. God's space and ours, in this option, are basically the same. God is everywhere and everywhere is God.

Or, God is everything, and everything is God. This option is called "pantheism". It was popular in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds of the first century, primarily through the philosophy of 'Stoicism', and after centuries in decline it has become increasingly popular in our own times.

The problem with pantheism, and to a large extent with panentheism the view that, though everything may not be divine as such, everything that exists is 'within' God , is that it can't cope with evil.

The only final answer given by Stoics in the first century, and by increasing numbers in today's Western world is suicide. Option Two is to completely separate the two spaces. Separating God's sphere and ours in the Epicurean fashion, with a distant God whom you might respect but who wasn't going to appear or do anything within our sphere, became very popular in the Western world of the eighteenth century through the movement known as "Deism", espoused by great American figures like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

When many people in the Western world mention "God" and "heaven", they're talking about a being and a place which - if they exist at all - are a long way away and have little or nothing directly to do with us. According to Wright, "the real problem with Epicureanism in the ancient world, and Deism in ours, is that it has to plug its ears to all those echoing voices we were talking about earlier in this book.

Actually, that's not so difficult in today's busy and noisy world. It's quite easy, in fact, when you're sitting in front of the television or hooked up to a portable stereo, one hand glued to the cell phone for text messaging, the other clutching a mug of specialist coffee But turn the machines off, read a different kind of book, wander out under the night sky, and see what happens.

You might start wondering about Option Three. Nor are they separated by a great gulf. Instead, they overlap and interlock in a number of different ways. For the Deist, the world may indeed have been made by God or the gods , but there is now no contact between divine and human. The Deist God wouldn't dream of 'intervening' within the created order; to do so would be untidy, a kind of category mistake.

But for the ancient Israelite and the early Christian, the creation of the world was the free outpouring of God's powerful love. In this third option, "The one true God made a world that was other than himself, because that is what love delights to do. And, having made such a world, he has remained in a close, dynamic, and intimate relationship with it, without in any way being contained within it or having it contained within himself.

And it's interesting to note that Wright barely mentions the word 'faith' at all in this book. For the skeptic or wavering Christian, this anthropomorphic view of God is difficult to grasp.

And for the rationalist atheist it is easy to attack. He is, rather, the condition of possibility of any entity whatsoever, including ourselves. He is the answer to why there is something rather than nothing. God and the universe do not add up to two, any more than my envy and my left foot constitute a pair of objects. Jesus: Rescue and Renewal The most striking and blunt passage in this entire chapter if not the entire book comes here: "The death of Jesus of Nazareth as the king of the Jews, the bearer of Israel's destiny, the fulfillment of God's promises to his people of old, is either the most stupid, senseless waste and misunderstanding the world has ever seen, or it is the fulcrum around which world history turns.

Christianity is based on the belief that it was and is the latter. He taught many valuable moral lessons through parable and metaphor. The historical record of Jesus, while once in dispute, is now hardly denied.

But what the death of Jesus the man symbolizes is what separates Christians from deists, pantheists, atheists, and agnostics. Wright goes on to make a keen observation of a difference in science and history: "Science, after all, rightly studies phenoma which can be repeated in laboratory conditions.

But history doesn't. Historians study things that happened once and once only; even if there are partial parallels, each historical event is unique. And the historical argument is quite clear. To repeat: far and away the best explanation for why Christianity began after Jesus's violent death is that he really was bodily alive again three days later, in a transformed body.

Faith can't be force, but unfaith can be challenged. With something as basic as light, for example, they find themselves driven to speak in terms both of waves and of particles, though these appear incompatible.

Sometimes, to make sense of the actual evidence before us, we have to pull our worldview, our sense of what's possible, into a new shape. That is the kind of thing demanded by the evidence about Easter. God's Breath of Life One difficult aspect of embracing Wright's argument is that it requires us to relinquish our concept of time and space. Indeed, accepting the Christian faith requires this in some sense. Take this passage, for example: "One day all creation will be rescued from slavery, from the corruption, decay, and death which deface its beauty, destroy its relationships, remove the sense of God's presence from it, and make it a place of injustice, violence, and brutality.

According to Wright, this means in Paul's words "that those who follow Jesus, those who find themselves believing that he is the world's true Lord, that he rose from the dead - these people are given the Spirit as a foretaste of what the new world will be like. The Story and the Task Non-believers frequently attack faith based on literal interpretations of religious texts. Texts written by men and shaped over centuries. The great writings of the Hindu tradition - the Bhagavad Gita, in particular - do not offer a controlling story within which the readers are summoned to become characters.

They do not speak of a single god who, as the unique creator, chooses to act in one specific family and location rather than all others in order thereby to address the whole world. This affects form as well as content. The Koran, the majestic monument to Muhammad, is a different sort of thing again, much more like in fact the kind of hard-edged 'authoritative' book which some would consider the Bible to be - or perhaps we should say into which they would like to turn the Bible.

Even Judaism, whose Bible the church has made its own, doesn't tell a continuing story of the Christian sort, a story in which the readers are summoned to become fresh characters. The Bible constantly challenges its readers not to rest content. Truth is more complicated - more interesting, in fact - than that. Mar 23, Ramone Bellagamba rated it really liked it. This is a worthwhile read.

I feel Wright focuses on almost 15 years earlier the echoes that are part of our contemporary moment. Areas that because of our truncated view of the Christian faith we have neglected or marginalized. Justice, Spirituality, Relationship and Beauty all areas where would should embody and announce the gospel of the Kingdom of God that is at hand to a watching world.

Jul 19, Deborah Wellum rated it it was amazing. Christianity simply and eloquently explained. Very edifying and timely for me. I highly recommend this book especially to those who would like a succinct description of the Christian faith and for those who need some refreshing. Jul 29, David Vance rated it it was amazing.

This probably really is the Mere Christianity for the 21st Century, and by that I mean brilliant, important, and already feeling pretty old-fashioned in a reassuring kind of way but maybe less jarring than Mere Christianity feels today. But it is full and good, and I really appreciate NT W This probably really is the Mere Christianity for the 21st Century, and by that I mean brilliant, important, and already feeling pretty old-fashioned in a reassuring kind of way but maybe less jarring than Mere Christianity feels today.

But it is full and good, and I really appreciate NT Wright for laying it out so well. View 1 comment. Jan 07, Laura rated it really liked it. I really hate rating theology books I enjoyed this for the most part. It isn't perfect HOW many times did he use the word 'echo'?!

Mar 22, Eliza Fitzgerald rated it really liked it. If I was to teach an Introduction to Theology class for new believers, I would probably use this book as one of the texts. Mar 26, Danette rated it it was amazing. Clear language. Going to read the last chapter over again. Jan 18, Lisa rated it it was amazing. This book made Christian concepts clear and embraceable, new and inspiring.

If you liked this book, then listen to the audio version read by Simon Prebble, and you may like it even more. Jan 30, Josie Smith rated it really liked it. A coming back to the basics, a remembering what it means to live transformed by the blood of Jesus. Aug 24, Angie Barfield added it. Always blessed by N. Mar 10, Gary rated it did not like it. I don't know who Wright's intended audience was.

I assumed it was making an argument for those who don't think Christianity makes sense a group in which I would count myself about how Christianity does, in fact, make sense. But he seemed most of the time to be using poetic metaphorical language to describe things "In Jesus, heaven and earth meet" -- what does this even MEAN? This is a fine book that is not an apologetic work, but more and overview of Wright's presentation of Christianity.

Laid out in a methodical way would we expect any less from Wright? Wright, refers frequently to the three options for viewing God and his relation to the world - Option 1 the two worlds are completely separated atheism or agnosticism , T This is a fine book that is not an apologetic work, but more and overview of Wright's presentation of Christianity. Wright, refers frequently to the three options for viewing God and his relation to the world - Option 1 the two worlds are completely separated atheism or agnosticism , The two worlds and completely enmeshed - all is god Pantheism , and then Option 3 where God is a part of and active with the world Christianity and Judaism.

Through these three options, he lays out a simple thesis that God and Christianity make sense in that they are active in this world and that the Christian's response to them is in light of this reality.

This is very much a book worth reading as an introduction to Wright and his approach to theology and Christianity. Dec 11, Heather rated it really liked it Shelves: religious. This is a nice book that teaches some important principles of Christianity. Some things are told from a different perspective than I'm used to, so it helped me think about a few things from a new point of view.

Here are some quotes I liked: "The point of following Jesus isn't simply so that we can be sure of going to a better place than this after we die.

Our future beyond death is enormously important, but the nature of the Christian hope is such that it plays back into the present life. We're c This is a nice book that teaches some important principles of Christianity. We're called, here and now, to be instruments of God's new creation p. But there is a time for trying to say, as simply as possible, what it's all about p. So why can't we fix injustice? It isn't for want of trying p. Does it have to be like this? Can things be put to rights, and if so how?

Can the world be rescued? Can we be rescued p. He must have thought we would go on needing it p. We tell stories. We act out rituals. We create beauty. We work in communities. We think out beliefs p. As such, it offers itself as the explanation of the voice whose echo we hear in the search for justice, the quest for spirituality, the longing for relationship, the yearning for beauty p. Yet it shows over and over again that the two spheres do indeed overlap, so that God makes his presence known, seen, and heard within the sphere of earth p.

Christianity isn't about Jesus offering a wonderful moral example, as though our principal need was to see what a life of utter love and devotion to God and to other people would look like, so that we could try to copy it.

If that had been Jesus's main purpose, we could certainly say it had some effect But observing Jesus's example could equally well simply make a person depressed It makes me realize that I can't come close and never will.

Nor is Christianity about Jesus offering, demonstrating, or even accomplishing a new route by which people can 'go to heaven when they die. Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this--the finding, the saving, the giving of new life--in Jesus.

He has done it. With Jesus, God's rescue operation has been put into effect once and for all p. Indeed, that was the very opposite of normal expectations.

The Messiah was supposed to be leading the triumphant fight against Israel's enemies, not dying at their hands p. Without God's Spirit, the church simply can't be the church p. We are caught on a small island near the point where these tectonic plates--heaven and earth, future and present--are scrunching themselves together.

Be ready for earthquakes p. There will be things to thank God for There will be things to ask for When we come eagerly to claim such promises, we find that, if we are serious, our desires and hopes are gently but firmly reshaped, sorted out, and put in fresh order p. In other words, the Bible isn't there simply to be an accurate reference point for people who want to look things up and be sure they've got them right.

It is there to equip God's people to carry forward his purposes of new covenant and new creation. It is there to enable people to work for justice, to sustain their spirituality as they do so, to create and enhance relationships at every level, and to produce that new creation which will have about it something of the beauty of God himself p. More usually it's the other way around. We read scripture in order to hear God addressing us--us, here and now, today p. True, buildings can and do carry memories, and when people have been praying and worshipping and mourning and celebrating in a particular building for many years, the building itself may come to speak powerfully of God's welcoming presence.

But it is the people who matter p. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us' Ephesians , p.

There are a lot of similarities between Tom Wright and C. Their writing style is quite similar, and they both have a delightful affection for parentheses delightful, because I share that affection. Also, it is hardly a surprise that the title of Wright's book "Simply Christian" is strikingly similar to Lewis' "Mere Christianity".

In fact, as I was reading the first chapter of Wright's book which talks about the sense of ethics that all people seem to share I was constantly reminded o There are a lot of similarities between Tom Wright and C. In fact, as I was reading the first chapter of Wright's book which talks about the sense of ethics that all people seem to share I was constantly reminded of the first chapter of Lewis' book which talks about the sense of ethics that all people seem to share.

And, indeed, both books seek to do the same thing: explain the basics of Christianity to an intelligent, educated, but not necessarily Christian reader. Wright's writing style is very fresh and enjoyable. He has a wonderful way of phrasing old truths using new words. Thus he avoids many of the pitfalls that are caused by the unfortunate connotations that Christian jargon often carries.

If I were to judge the book solely on its style, I would definitely give it five stars. There are, however, a few things that force me to reduce that rating. Firstly, Wright occasionally carries his rewriting of Christian terms so far that he runs the risk of being misunderstood. For example, seeing Jesus as God's son is added as an afterthought.

Wright describes Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection in detail, but we do not encounter the concept of "God's son" until later, where it is presented as something that appeared when Christians talked about Jesus p.

I have no doubt at all that Wright believes Jesus to be the son of God, but the casual reader could easily get the impression that this sonship was invented by Christians when in fact Jesus' relation to God is clearly established in the gospels.

Secondly and more seriously , Wright completely ignores the fundamental Christian notion of Jesus' death being payment for our sins. The prophet Isaiah, Jesus himself, Paul, the church fathers, and thousands of Christian theologians since then all agree that one of humanity's basic problems was a debt owed to God because of our evil actions.

When he suffered and died, Jesus took those transgressions upon himself and paid the price. For some obscure reason, Wright does not mention this at all. This has the very unfortunate consequence that Wright has to give another explanation for Jesus' death: "God's plan to rescue the world from evil would be put into effect by evil doing its worst to the Servant, to Jesus himself, and thereby exhausting its power" p.

Hardly a convincing explanation, in my opinion. I have a strong suspicion that Wright actually does refer to the traditional view in a couple of places. For example, on p. Finally, I fear that Wright has not quite decided who his audience is. Despite Wright's fresh and delightful writing style, non-Christians and new Christians are bound to be put off by the often vague and difficult statements such as, "Christian prayer is at its most characteristic when we find ourselves caught in the overlap of the ages, part of the creation that aches for new birth" p.

On the other hand, older Christians, who may understand the more obscure statements, will find little in this book that is actually new to them. They may pick up a thing here or there that they have not thought about before, but most of the book is merely a rewording of things already known. So what is the verdict? The writing style is splendid; and except for the things mentioned above, I find the book a good and thorough introduction to Christianity.

But if you are not used to reading non-fiction books with a philosophical theme, this book is probably not for you. Apr 18, Tyler Collins rated it it was ok Shelves: mnu-ministry-books. Wright, in "Simply Christian," attempts to do what C. Lewis did in "Mere Christianity": Express the core of Christian belief. I found many of the observations and claims he made in the book compelling and instructive—even transformative of my understanding. The first section of his book about the longings all humans have resonated with me, and the third section of his book about how to live out the Christian faith I found to be profound.

In all of this, I felt his thoughts were sometimes N. In all of this, I felt his thoughts were sometimes scattered and not as organized as I would have liked them to be. Occasionally, his metaphors did not speak strongly to me as those of Lewis always do , although the ones I reference below I found particularly powerful. He is saying, in effect, You are now the people of the true exodus. You are now on your way to your inheritance. Simply Christian by N.

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