WHEN the history of biblical scholarship in the 20th and 21st centuries comes to be written, a strong case will be made for seeing Richard B. Hays as the leading American New Testament scholar of his generation. The word “leading”, sometimes used in a vague, arm-waving fashion, is meant here in its precise sense. Many careful and […]
The Christmas Story Has Always Been About Power
Like a shoddy police procedural with an easily-recognizable bad guy—the unshaven one with the heavy accent—the Christmas story has one villain in particular. Not Joseph, who didn’t believe Mary’s tale until an angel came to him in a dream. Not the innkeeper who said there was “no room” for Joseph and Mary. (That’s probably a […]
A new Tübingen school? Ernst Käsemann and his commentary on Romans
In 1925, as a student of 19 years old, Ernst Käsemann attended a lecture course (by Erik Peterson) on the Epistle to the Romans. Looking back from the vantage-point of 1973, he could write that this early experience determined his course of study ‘and in some sense, as befits a theologian, my life’. ‘The basic […]
The Link Between the Resurrection and Elections
I went to a funeral recently. It was an old friend and former colleague. The big “C,” diagnosed six years ago. He outlived the first diagnosis by five years but eventually it caught up. Splendid service, lovely music, fine sermon, many poignant moments. I met dozens of people I hadn’t seen for years. All as it […]
The Bible’s Most Misunderstood Verse
When I was working as a bishop, interviewing clergy for parish jobs, one of the questions I would sometimes ask was, “If you could take one chapter of the Bible to a desert island, which would it be?” To make it more interesting, I would often add, “Let’s say you’ve already got Romans 8.” Otherwise […]
Preachers talk about Christianity. Queen Elizabeth went out and lived it
Christmas lunch, for many British families, has regularly concluded with everyone gathering around the television to hear the Queen’s annual message to the nation and the Commonwealth. About twenty years ago it was widely reported that some of Her Majesty’s advisors had suggested to her that, now that Britain was home to many different religious traditions, […]
How the Christmas Stories Call the Church to a Different Vision
Two weeks ago I visited our old family church, in the far north of England. I was placing flowers by my parents’ gravestone, in front of memorials to my grandparents, great-grandparents and sundry uncles and aunts. But my eye was drawn, as it has often been, to the Jesse Window in the east end of […]
The Exchange: Easter Hope for a Post-Pandemic World
I knew from an early age there was something wrong. I listened to Easter sermons from good evangelical preachers, and they seemed to be missing the point. I suspect the same problem is getting in the way now, as we try to draw from the Easter message the hope that the post-pandemic world will need […]
What is the Point of Celebrating Easter During a Pandemic?
This time last year the talk was all about what we will have learned when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, and allowing normal life to resume. People, it was suggested, would become more caring, more sensitive, perhaps more green. I see no sign of those utopian dreams today. The only game in town I see coming is the blame game: […]
Anti-Racism in the Church
Sir: Douglas Murray complains that the C of E has embraced the ‘new religion’ of anti-racism (‘The C of E’s new religion’, 20 March). But the truth, which neither he nor the church seems to have realised, is that the ‘anti-racist’ agenda is a secular attempt to plug a long-standing gap in western Christianity. The […]
The Paul of History and the Apostle of Faith – Spanish Translation
El Pablo de la Historia y el Pablo de la Fe
Undermining Racism (Complete Text)
Undermining Racism: Reflections on the ‘black lives matter’ crisis The churches are in the wrong, not because they haven’t obeyed the politically correct agenda, but because they haven’t obeyed their own foundation charter. Tom Wright, June 8 2020 Introduction Three memories crowd in upon me as I contemplate the horror both of George Floyd’s callous […]
Time: Should Churches Reopen? The Answer Lies in Thinking of This as a Time of Exile
When the present pandemic began to take hold, a passage from the writings of Martin Luther went the rounds on the internet. With his usual combination of down-to-earth wisdom and practical piety, Luther insisted that preachers and pastors should remain at their posts. As good shepherds, they should be prepared to lay down their lives […]
Time: Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To
For many Christians, the coronavirus-induced limitations on life have arrived at the same time as Lent, the traditional season of doing without. But the sharp new regulations—no theater, schools shutting, virtual house arrest for us over-70s—make a mockery of our little Lenten disciplines. Doing without whiskey, or chocolate, is child’s play compared with not seeing friends […]
The Early Christians and the Mission of God: The Michael Green Memorial Lecture
The Early Christians and the Mission of God The Michael Green Memorial Lecture December 9 2019 St Aldate’s Church, Oxford By the Right Reverend Professor N T Wright, DD FRSE St Mary’s College, St Andrews, and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Introduction I am honoured by the invitation to give this lecture in grateful and happy memory […]
Loving to Know
In many spheres, the question not just of what we know but of how we know is urgent and vital. I have tried to develop the notion of love as the ultimate form of knowledge and to explore its wider relevance. Read the whole thing.
Updated Publications List 2020
Publications Books (more scholarly works marked with *) 2020 *Galatians. Christian Formation Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans (forthcoming) 2020 *New Testament Perspectives (3 vols. of collected essays: Jesus, Paul and the Interpretation of Scripture). London: SPCK; Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2019 Seven Clues to Life: John’s Answers to the Great Questions (provisional title). San Francisco: HarperOne; London: […]
The New Testament Doesn’t Say What Most People Think It Does About Heaven
One of the central stories of the Bible, many people believe, is that there is a heaven and an earth and that human souls have been exiled from heaven and are serving out time here on earth until they can return. Indeed, for most modern Christians, the idea of “going to heaven when you die” […]
Theology of the Future
“Stop thinking like children.” Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians is even more urgent for us today. Though they should be like little children when it came to evil, he insisted they should be grown-ups when it came to thinking. To that end, Paul constantly tried to teach people not only what to think but how […]
Space, Time and History: Jesus and the Challenge of God
Space, Time and History: Jesus and the Challenge of God Harrogate School of Theology and Mission and the ‘St Hild’ Lecture Rt Revd Prof N T Wright St Andrews [The audio of this lecture is available at St George’s Church.] January 12 2019 Introduction Thank you very much for your welcome and your hospitality. It’s […]
Hope Deferred? Against the Dogma of Delay
The idea of “the delay of the Parousia” has been a powerful yet problematic notion in biblical study and systematic theology over the last century. Powerful: it is central to the theses of Albert Schweitzer and Rudolf Bultmann, and through their influence it has continued to exercise constraint, not to say control, on many readings […]
Good News: National Witness?
Good News: National Witness?
Right Standing, Right Understanding and Wright Misunderstanding: A Response
Right Standing, Right Understanding and Wright Misunderstanding: A Response N. T. Wright, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews [Originally published in Journal for the Study of Paul and his Letters 4.1, 89-106, 2014. Reproduced by permission of the author.] I am grateful for these responses, not least because my colleagues have clearly given […]
How Greek was Paul’s Eschatology?
How Greek was Paul’s Eschatology? Prof N. T. Wright (with G. van Kooten and O. Wischmeyer) St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, KY16 9JU, Scotland [Originally published in New Testament Studies 61.2, 239-253, 2015. Reproduced by permission of the author.] Introduction Constraints of space dictate a brief summary of complex issues. We must avoid […]
The New Testament in the strange words of David Bentley Hart
When a theologian of the stature of David Bentley Hart offers a “pitilessly literal translation” of the New Testament that is “not shaped by later theological and doctrinal history” and aims to make “the familiar strange, novel, and perhaps newly compelling,” we are eager to see the result. He promises to bring out the “wildly […]
Learning from Paul Together
LOI Theological Educators’ Consultation Selwyn College, Cambridge, 5 September 2017 ‘Learning from Paul Together: How New Insights into Paul’s Teaching can Help Move us Forward in Mission’ Rt Revd Prof N T Wright, University of St Andrews [Papers and Audio from the Lausanne-Orthodox Consultation are available at LOI 2017 website.] Introduction Thank you for your […]
Christ and Creation: Exploring the Paradox
Christ and Creation: Exploring the Paradox By N.T. Wright When we say that all things are made in and through and for Jesus the Messiah, this is the Jesus we must be talking about. There is no other. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. This means we should at least try to […]
Palm Sunday: Jesus Rides into the Perfect Storm
Palm Sunday: Jesus Rides into the Perfect Storm N.T. Wright The crowd went wild as they got nearer. This was the moment they had been waiting for. All the old songs came flooding back, and they were singing, chanting, cheering and laughing. At last, their dreams were going to come true. Read the whole thing […]
Saving the World, Revealing the Glory: Atonement Then and Now
Saving the World, Revealing the Glory: Atonement Then and Now N.T. Wright The deft artistry and fathomless theology of John’s Gospel is powerfully displayed in the footwashing scene in chapter 13. In a few strokes of the pen we are offered a tableau intimate and touching, on the one hand, and scary and dangerous, on […]
Historical Paul and ‘Systematic Theology’
Historical Paul and ‘Systematic Theology’ To Start a Discussion [A version of this article is published as ‘Historical Paul and “Systematic Theology”: To Start a Discussion’, pages 147-164 in Biblical Theology, ed. M. W. Elliott. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016.] Theology Graduate Seminar, February 5 2014 Prof N T Wright Introduction Once upon […]
What Is Marriage For?
What is Marriage For? Tracing God’s Plan From Genesis to Revelation N. T. Wright One of the fascinating things about the Bible as we now have it – as you know, it was written over rather a long period of time – is that it begins and ends with the coming together of heaven and […]
The Royal Revolution: Fresh Perspectives on the Cross
The Royal Revolution: Fresh Perspectives on the Cross N. T. Wright DD FRSE, University of St Andrews Calvin College January Series January 24, 2017 Thank you so much for your welcome. It is always good to be back at Calvin and to have the honour once again of being part of the prestigious January Series. […]
Sign and Means of New Creation: Public Worship and the Creative Reading of Scripture
Sign and Means of New Creation: Public Worship and the Creative Reading of Scripture Symposium on Worship, Calvin College January 27 and 28, 2017 N T Wright, University of St Andrews At the start of the First World War, the young Karl Barth was a parish minister in Safenwil in Switzerland. At this moment of […]
Saving the World, Revealing the Glory: Atonement Then and Now
Saving the World, Revealing the Glory: Atonement Then and Now Rt. Revd. Prof. N T Wright DD FRSE St Mellitus’ College, London October 17 2016 The deft artistry and fathomless theology of John’s gospel is powerfully displayed in the footwashing scene in chapter 13. In a few strokes of the pen we are offered […]
The Dangerous Vocations: Church, Media and Public Life in a Post-Rational World
The Dangerous Vocations: Church, Media and Public Life in a Post-Rational World Church’s Media Network Conference RSA, London, 20 October 2016 Prof N T Wright, University of St Andrews I have two brief preliminary points, three somewhat fuller comments about the developments that have taken place in my adult lifetime, and then – my main […]
Wouldn’t You Love to Know? Towards a Christian View of Reality
Wouldn’t You Love to Know? Towards a Christian View of Reality Grasping the Nettle: Glasgow, September 1 2016 Rt Revd Prof N T Wright, St Andrews We live in a strange world, and things one group of people take for granted can be quite opaque to another. I’ve heard it said that in Germany everything […]
Righteousness
(Originally published in New Dictionary of Theology. David F. Wright, Sinclair B. Ferguson, J.I. Packer (eds), 590-592. IVP. Reproduced by permission of the author.)
Righteousness. The basic meaning of ‘righteousness’ and its cognates in the Bible derives from the Hebrew sedeq, which was usually translated in the LXX as dikaiosynē. It thus denotes not so much the abstract idea of justice or virtue, as right standing and consequent right behaviour, within a community. English translates this semantic field with two different roots: ‘right’, ‘righteous’, and ‘righteousness’ and ‘just’, ‘justice’, ‘justify’ and ‘justification’. In Heb. and Gk., however, these ideas all belong together linguistically and theologically.
The Lord’s Prayer as a Paradigm of Christian Prayer
(Originally published in Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament, ed. R.L. Longenecker. 2001, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 132-54. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N. T. WRIGHT “AS OUR SAVIOR CHRIST hath commanded and taught us, we are bold to say: ‘Our Father. . . .’” So runs the old liturgical formula, stressing the […]
Women’s Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis
a conference paper for the Symposium, ‘Men, Women and the Church’ St John’s College, Durham, September 4 2004 by the Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. Wright I am very grateful to the organisers for inviting me to address this important conference, and only sorry that because of other duties I have been unable to […]
New Perspectives on Paul
Delivered at the Tenth Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference Introduction I am grateful for the invitation to this conference, and for the sensitive way in which the organisers responded to my comments on the initial outline of the programme. I am aware that fresh interpretations of Paul, including my own, have caused controversy in evangelical circles, and […]