Like time itself, certain ideas creep up on you and, before you know it, they have changed the way you think about everything else. That’s how it was for me with the resurrection of Jesus. Brought up to go to church, to sing the hymns and say the prayers, I knew the story. “On the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Jesus and the Identity of God
Originally published in Ex Auditu 1998, 14, 42–56. Reproduced by permission of the author. To address the subject of the theological significance of the earthly Jesus I take as my topic the central question of Jesus and God. The question must be approached from both sides. First, in what sense, if any, can we meaningfully use the word “god” to […]
Christian Origins and the Resurrection of Jesus: The Resurrection of Jesus as a Historical Problem
(Originally published in Sewanee Theological Review 41.2, 1998. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N.T. Wright Prologue The Question of Jesus’ resurrection lies at the heart of the Christian faith. There is no form of early Christianity known to us that does not affirm that after Jesus’ shameful death God raised him to life again. […]
Jesus’ Resurrection and Christian Origins
Originally published in Gregorianum, 2002, 83/4, 615–635. Reproduced by permission of the author. Introduction The question of Jesus’ resurrection continues to haunt the thinking and writing of many scholars. I shall not debate in detail with them here; there are other places for that. I want instead to sketch, in broad strokes, a historical argument about what happened three days […]
The Historical Jesus and Christian Theology
Originally published in Sewanee Theological Review 39, 1996. Reproduced by permission of author. he quest for the historical Jesus began as a protest against traditional Christian dogma, but when the supposedly ‘‘neutral” historians peered into the well, all they saw was a featureless Jesus. Even when scholars decided that other biblical figures—John the Baptist, the evangelists, […]
Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in Early Christianity
University of St Andrews St Mary’s College (Faculty of Divinity) Inaugural Lecture by the Right Reverend Professor N. T. Wright Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity 5.15 pm, October 26 2011 The four gospels stand magisterially at the head of the canon and the centre of early Christianity. They are remarkable documents. If […]
An Evening Conversation on Jesus and Paul
On October 25, 2004, James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright had a two-part dialogue on Jesus and Paul in Durham, England. This a transcript of the dialogue, edited by Mark M. Mattison. Transcript: An Evening Conversation on Jesus and Paul (PDF 144 KB) Audio recordings: Jesus: Durham New Testament Seminar Paul: Durham New Testament Seminar
The Servant and Jesus: The Relevance of the Colloquy for the Current Quest for Jesus
(Originally published in Jesus and the Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 and Christian Origins, ed. William H. Bellinger, Jr. and William R. Farmer. 1998, Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International. 281–297. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N. T. WRIGHT Introduction I am enormously grateful for the chance to take part in this colloquy. I have caught […]
The Resurrection and the Postmodern Dilemma
(Originally published in Sewanee Theological Review 41.2, 1998. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N.T. Wright In concluding this series of lectures, I want to do something rather different than what I have done in the previous two. My interest in the resurrection of Jesus is at the same time fully historical, fully theological, and […]
Resurrecting Old Arguments: Responding to Four Essays
[209] Resurrecting Old Arguments: Responding to Four Essays (Originally published in Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 2005, 3.2, 187–209. Original pagination is retained in bold italicized numbers. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N.T. Wright Bishop of Durham Durham, UK ABSTRACT The author is grateful for the attention given to his book […]
Doing Justice to Jesus: A Response to J.D. Crossan: ‘What Victory? What God?’
(Originally published in Scottish Journal of Theology 1997, 50.3, 359–79. Reproduced by permission of the author.) by N. T. Wright I am grateful for the invitation to respond, even though commenting on comments runs the risk of being ‘patently defensive’. It’s a risk I shall have to take. Quests. I am fascinated by your speculations […]
Jesus’ Self-Understanding
[47] Jesus’ Self-Understanding (Originally published in The Incarnation, ed. S. T. Davis, D. Kendall, G. O’Collins 2002, Oxford: OUP, 47–61. Original pagination is retained in bold italicized numbers. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N. T. WRIGHT I INTRODUCTION (A): TODAY’S SITZ IM LEBEN As I prepared to write this short chapter on Jesus’ self-understanding, […]
Early Traditions and the Origins of Christianity
(Originally published in Sewanee Theological Review 41.2, 1998. Reproduced by permission of the author.) N.T. Wright Introduction I have so far endeavored to sketch a historical argument I have urged that the rise of early Christianity cannot be explained except on the basis upon which the early Christians themselves insist, namely, that Jesus of Nazareth, […]
Five Gospels but No Gospel: Jesus and the the Seminary
Originally published in Authenticating the Activities of Jesus, ed. Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans, Leiden: Brill, 1999, 83–120. Reproduced by permission of the author. Looking for Jesus People have been looking for Jesus for a long time, but never quite like this. The “Quest of the Historical Jesus” has been proceeding, in fits and starts, […]
Jesus, Israel and the Cross
Originally published in SBL 1985 Seminar Papers, pp. 75–95. Reproduced by permission of the author. I Like naughty children whispering after a command to silence, and then, greatly daring, talking openly and with increasing volume, New Testament scholars, so long forbidden to talk about Jesus of Nazareth, have begun in the last decade to do so […]