Big Blue

Do you remember where you first were when you realized you would never be the president? Perhaps you wondered where you went wrong... or pondered that one decision that lead to that other decision that lead to you being a middle-manager in a below average company with 2 kids, a spouse, and a mortgage rather than leading the free world through its latest crisis.

NT Wright has that effect on me. What's that you say? You haven't heard of him? He's no Barak Obama but in the world of the historical study of Jesus, in the world of biblical studies and theology, there are few who stand taller than NT Wright. He's absolutely brilliant, prolific, persuasive and irenic (although those last two might be prejudice on my part since I find myself wanting to agree with him often).

I just finished rereading Jesus and the Victory of God, a book which I sped through in seminary over 7 years ago. In it Wright strives to take a fresh look at Jesus in his historical context and build a portrait that is faithful to the source documents and to what we think we know about 1st century Israel (and Rome).

Some of you might know that saying 'Jesus' and 'history' can cause all sorts of controversy not least because of the speculative and media-grabbing work of the Jesus Seminar. As he strives to do the primary work of understanding Jesus, he has a secondary project of seeking to rehabilitate the discipline of rigorous historical inquiry for those who have come to mistrust its motives when it comes to Jesus, the Bible, and theology.

On both fronts, Wright is compelling. Starting with a summary of the various historical approaches to Jesus (studying Jesus has a history in its own right) he spirals into a method and conclusion that is thoughtful, 'new', satisfyingly faithful, and also troubling. Summarizing 600+ pages in this little post will never do, so I'll stop trying... Well, let me just take a hack at a one sentence summary:

Jesus is a a thoroughly 1st century Jew who self-consciously and purposefully gathered up the symbols, praxis, and expectation of the Jewish nation and recast them in faithful but surprising ways, announcing himself as the long awaited messiah who is in himself bringing unexpected restoration from the cycle of deepening exile that describes all nations and all people, not just Israel.

Whew! That was a mouthful. And I missed some stuff. You should read the book if you want to discover the gaps.

A friend of mine who used to work with a college ministry calls Wright's book 'Big Blue'. It's easy to see why. It's blue. It's a major paper-weight. But it's also weighty. Anyone who seeks to understand Jesus, or study Jesus on purely historical terms, must reckon with this book and its conclusions which are ultimately more orthodox than many might desire.

So, I'm no NT Wright. Never will be. I'm not even sure where I went wrong, but I can be sure I won't be contributing to the church, theology, or history the way he has. No one will be reading what I wrote 50 years from now... I'll have to come to terms with that.

Incidentally, I think not running for 7th grade student body president was my downfall in the world of US politics.