I didn’t read Simply Christian because I needed an apologetic to reinforce my faith, although many are touting it as an even better synopsis of things Christian than C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.
I read it because the author, acclaimed historian and Biblical scholar N.T. Wright, just could be my favorite “personal religious studies” author. On top of that, this thoughtful theological treatise is written so a lay person like me can easily understand it.
To reflect back a moment, I grew into adulthood pretty much swallowing a brand of Christianity that focused, almost exclusively, on “getting saved so we can go to heaven.”
Let me be clear: there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to go to heaven. In fact, it’s quite preferable to the alternative.
However, this kind of thinking breeds ongoing frustration in that it requires me to try to continually reach out to an all-powerful God, who is out there “somewhere,” but seemingly out of grasp. It’s a deistic approach to faith (man’s domicile and God’s domicile are both real – but they don’t interact).
With this book, Bishop Wright offers us a much more encompassing view of Christianity (and a theology) in which the domicile of God not only interacts with that of mankind, but also has already begun the work of redemption and rehabilitation for those of us who still must struggle in a tired, deteriorating world.
This is a book that describes and elucidates the actuality of the coming together of heaven and earth (in contrast, for instance, to my previous focus on their “separateness”); it is the account of how an infinite God initiated and provided the means for a loving re-interaction with a creation that had fallen irretrievably from its original status. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the agency of that confluence. But he came to earth for much more than just “saving me so I can go to heaven.”.
I can’t begin to try to summarize in this short post all that the book covers. However, I’ll note a couple of recurring themes.
First, according to Wright, there has always been a way where heaven and earth overlapped, so to speak. Ancient Israelites had the tablets of law, for instance, and we today have not only the indwelling Holy Spirit, but also the Biblical canon and the church to both build us up and provide a means for worship of the Living God.
A second recurring theme is that not only has heaven and earth convened, but also the work has been accomplished for the rescue of mankind from his helpless, sinful state. And that rescue enables an incredible, fresh perspective.
Here is how Bishop Wright describes it:
“With Jesus, God’s rescue operation has been put into effect once and for all. A great door has swung open in the cosmos which can never again be shut. It’s the door to the prison where we’ve been kept chained up. We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves, to go through the open door and explore the new world to which we now have access. In particular, we are all invited—summoned, actually—to discover, through following Jesus, that this new world is indeed a place of justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty, and that we are not only to enjoy it as such but to work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven.”
I read it because the author, acclaimed historian and Biblical scholar N.T. Wright, just could be my favorite “personal religious studies” author. On top of that, this thoughtful theological treatise is written so a lay person like me can easily understand it.
To reflect back a moment, I grew into adulthood pretty much swallowing a brand of Christianity that focused, almost exclusively, on “getting saved so we can go to heaven.”
Let me be clear: there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to go to heaven. In fact, it’s quite preferable to the alternative.
However, this kind of thinking breeds ongoing frustration in that it requires me to try to continually reach out to an all-powerful God, who is out there “somewhere,” but seemingly out of grasp. It’s a deistic approach to faith (man’s domicile and God’s domicile are both real – but they don’t interact).
With this book, Bishop Wright offers us a much more encompassing view of Christianity (and a theology) in which the domicile of God not only interacts with that of mankind, but also has already begun the work of redemption and rehabilitation for those of us who still must struggle in a tired, deteriorating world.
This is a book that describes and elucidates the actuality of the coming together of heaven and earth (in contrast, for instance, to my previous focus on their “separateness”); it is the account of how an infinite God initiated and provided the means for a loving re-interaction with a creation that had fallen irretrievably from its original status. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the agency of that confluence. But he came to earth for much more than just “saving me so I can go to heaven.”.
I can’t begin to try to summarize in this short post all that the book covers. However, I’ll note a couple of recurring themes.
First, according to Wright, there has always been a way where heaven and earth overlapped, so to speak. Ancient Israelites had the tablets of law, for instance, and we today have not only the indwelling Holy Spirit, but also the Biblical canon and the church to both build us up and provide a means for worship of the Living God.
A second recurring theme is that not only has heaven and earth convened, but also the work has been accomplished for the rescue of mankind from his helpless, sinful state. And that rescue enables an incredible, fresh perspective.
Here is how Bishop Wright describes it:
“With Jesus, God’s rescue operation has been put into effect once and for all. A great door has swung open in the cosmos which can never again be shut. It’s the door to the prison where we’ve been kept chained up. We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves, to go through the open door and explore the new world to which we now have access. In particular, we are all invited—summoned, actually—to discover, through following Jesus, that this new world is indeed a place of justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty, and that we are not only to enjoy it as such but to work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven.”
Now that’s quite a contrast to the “slimline” Christianity to which I was initially exposed. Rather, I want to embrace this new vision..
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