In Search of Kingdom Living

We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus, still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who talked in first-century Palestine.

So my first official book completion in the 10 Book Challenge is 'The Challenge of Jesus' by NT Wright. Let me trace back the context to how I first got interested in his works. If I've been speaking to you about all things Christian, you would probably get the sense that I'm fascinated by the pomo movement. Whether you agree with it or not, I would try to make a case that postmodernity is the context in which we live in, and we have to correctly live out a gospel that can respond appropriately to our pomo culture.

So what does pomo have to do with NT Wright? Well, far more than I ever thought. For those who believe that pomo is a fad, a dangerous movement that's founded on relativism or supercharged-emotional-spirituality, I think you're not looking at all facets of this emerging movement. Many mainstream pomo christians have been articulating a faith that says our post-enlightenment worldview needs to get past reason/logic as the end-all-be-all and move towards a more holistic type of knowing. This is why there's been an increasing amount of stress put on an ancient-future faith – a move towards understanding our biblical roots in order to build up the future.

So now, finally, we get to Wright. After reading many pomo books and understanding a bit better the arguments surrounding our emerging culture, I felt a need to understand the original context in which Jesus found himself. We always stressed this point in bible study (ie. what is the context of the passage), but I think we have always superimposed our 21st century values/ideas into the very interpretation of Jesus' historical context. This is where the pomo movement has been great, it's so skeptical of every interpretation, and it points out that even our most objective interpretation is still based on hidden motivations.

Wright has been a well established theologian who some people label as part of 'the third quest of the historical Jesus' movement. Basically, Wright's perspective is that Jesus introduces something radically new, especially in relation to the identity of the people of God (Israel). Jesus specifically offers a new beginning, a new conclusion in God's great plan (how's this for jawdropper – Jesus is the new temple…). I really enjoyed the book, especially Wright's emphasis on historical research and appropriate reasoning. I would sum up his flow of the book (and his critique on mainstream Christianity) as being the following: we know the right answers, but we don't know the right questions and the reasoning leading to those answers. For instance, we know Jesus is the Messiah – but what does that mean? What did that mean to a first century Jew living under the Roman government? Did Jesus meet the Jewish understanding of messiah-ship and/or did he go beyond such interpretation?

I could write down so many more things to say about this book – like his wonderful take about the identity of Christ, identifying and offering practical response to the pomo movement, creating a renewed desire for me to understand the Jewishness of Jesus/Bible, etc. All these things are great, but I think this book may be required reading in some seminary class, so I'll wait til then to write a more indepth analysis of the book. All in all, if you like swimming in the deep end, go check out this book!

If you're interested in re-discovering how history/Christianity fit well together, or how we can better understand who Jesus was, check out the following links:

NT Wright's Expositions at the IVCF Following Christ 98 conference. 'The Challenge of Jesus' can be seen as a summary of his mega theological works combined with the talks he gave at this conference. Check it out here.

An unofficial webpage dedicated to all things about NT Wright. His article about 'how the bible can be authoritative' and 'the bible for the postmodern world' is especially great. Check it out here.

If you like exploring the "Jewishness" of Christianity, check out the website that's called 'FollowTheRabbi'. Check it out here.

I might as well add a few more links. The person who oversees the followtherabbi website is a guy named Rob Vanderlaan. He is a passionate teacher, and if you want to watch a video sermon of his, check it out here (click on the 'Message' link).

A great preacher that was mentored by Vanderlaan is Rob Bell. This guy help grow a church from a few hundred to several thousand people in a year, just preaching on one book of the Bible…. LEVITICUS!!! If you want to see great biblical preaching mixed in with humor and relevance, you gotta check out these video sermons:
The Nazarite Vow
Between the Trees
We're over here
Jesus and Domitian
A Day of Atonement
Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi

Tune in again when I bust out all the good links.