| Title | : | Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0062084399 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780062084392 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published March 9, 2020 |
Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters Reviews
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This is a much better version of Reza Aslan's "Zealot", in that both books try to focus on the historic figure of Jesus, but Wright's approach seems to me more subtle and deeper. Aslan's focus on the "revolutionary" aspect, although not incorrect, does not provide the 360 degrees image that Wright creates here.
The key to a real and deep understanding of Jesus as a man who lived in history is in contextualizing his life in the contemporary Jewish world. The moment you understand how intensely and for how long (many centuries) the Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah, you start to get the first real vibration about the man Jesus Christ.
Wright uses the very effective analogy of a furious "perfect storm" to explain the confluence of 3 enormously powerful currents into Jesus' times:
1. The Roman storm was the wind of Caesar’s imperial power and good news (i.e., “gospel”) that followed as he brought pax.
2. The Jewish storm was building expectation of a new exodus that would usher in the judgment of the Gentiles and the re-instatement of the honor and power of Israel and her God. These clashing tempests would be trouble enough, but we see the
3. “wind of God” (as Wright calls it) coming in Jesus himself – “as he came to Jerusalem he was embodying, incarnating, the return of Israel’s God to his people in power and glory”. Wright connects the coming of Jesus with the promise of YHWH that he would rule as king again, solely, over his people and his creation. Even with David, while this man was “king,” it was actually God reigning as king through David. However, no Israelite, it appears, was capable of predicting that Jesus would combine in himself “both the Davidic king and the returning God”.
See a good comment and summary of the book here:
https://www.google.de/amp/s/cruxsolab...
and its second part, even more interesting and well-written, here:
https://www.google.de/amp/s/cruxsolab...
Jesus found himself at the point of convergence of these forces, and, as a man, not only he decided to take on the burden on his shoulders (in fact, some others had already tried and failed), but he was the only one to actually do it in "the right way", or let's say in a convincing way.
Wright explains that "The kingdom of God" was never quite well defined in the Old Testament, and therefore many Jews were literally hoping in a Messiah who would lead a rebellion against Rome and reinstate the throne of David.
Instead, in Jesus's understanding, that was not the Kingdom of God as explained by the prophets. The kingdom of God would see him as Lord, however NOT in the sense of any material power. This is why his "descent into Jerusalem", at the height of his fame, was done on the back of a donkey, to signify (following ancient scriptures) that he was not coming to fight for any temporal power, but for the soul of his people.
When I was 30, I remember still being sometimes too shy to speak to a girl. At the same age, this man had the guts to go through with incarnating a narrative that had been told for centuries before, fully knowing right from the start that he would have ended up nailed on a cross. Different perspectives. -
This book should be titled: "Jesus: It's Complicated"
As could be expected, in this book Wright attempts to open up his dense and nuanced arguments from Jesus and the Victory of God for the non-academic audience.
Trouble is, he has already boiled down those arguments in The Challenge of Jesus. Basically the conclusions in this present work are the same as those he's already put forward several times before (so I can't see why the subtitle mentions a "new vision" etc.), but Wright has a brilliant mind and is able to say the same thing in new ways. The new image here is that of a "perfect storm." I liked that imagery and I think it created some coherence as he proceeded through his proposals about who Jesus was/is and what he did/is doing.
Personally, I think that if you're not going to read the big academic book (Jesus and the Victory of God), then you should read The Challenge of Jesus instead of this one. Whichever book about Jesus you choose to read, I don't think you'll ever walk away thinking "that was simple" - if you do, then it probably isn't the historical Jesus you were reading about! -
N.T. Wright is something of a modern C.S. Lewis. By bringing his scholarly expertise to the public realm, he has opened the door for a whole new generation of Christians to explore theology and history outside of the ivory tower. Simply Jesus is a story that Wright has told many times before and, like many stories, it has been perfected over time. This is Wright at his most focused, concentrated, and concise. He lays out the message of Christ (as many of his early followers understood it) with as much verve and expertise as could possibly be hoped for. Unfortunately, his refusal to engage with contemporary scholarship leaves a small question mark on many of his more controversial points. Overall, Wright has crafted an all-encompassing journey through Christ and Christianity that deserves to be read by just about anyone.
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I probably could have gotten more out of this book if I'd worked harder to pay attention, but frankly I tuned out after a while. He makes some good points and creates some good connections, but overall I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. It's not apologetics, it's not really an investigation into evidence... I'm still not sure what Wright actually set out to do with this book. Apparently it's a follow-up to
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, which I thought was even worse. I can see how some would appreciate this book, but I wasn't impressed, I didn't take away much, I couldn't reiterate Wright's main points after having read it, and I've no desire to read more of his works after this. I think Wright just isn't for me. -
Wow, his writing is so unclear, circular, repetitive, and by the end I still wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say. While reading I was constantly wondering: "But why do you think that? Where did that come from? What led you to that conclusion?" I didn't find that he covered the historical background he was trying to convey particularly well or concisely either. If you have no Biblical/church background before reading this, you will just end up confused; if you do have the background, this probably isn't anything you haven't heard before.
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I took my time over this because I had the feeling that at some point it was going to say something 'really important' but I was disappointed that it never really did, it just seemed to put across what has been taught in many other places. I cannot say that it made it into a bad book as such but I think it was perhaps my expectations that were amiss. For a book written by a theologian (NT Wright) attempting to present something to the non academic (why else style himself Tom Wright for this otherwise?) this book seemed to fall between two stools, for it was surely too complex for the average churchgoer and too populist for the serious theological student. The word 'Simply' in the title probably implies something straightforward to one and enlightening to the other, when it is neither. The repeated use of the 'Perfect Storm' metaphor also did not help me as I had found the film of this story thoroughly miserable and depressing - hardly the image to assist with a story of life-giving hope. This all sounds as though the book should be 1 star for me, but NT Wright presents the basic (simple?) story of Jesus with excitement and relevance and it is the style rather than the content which grate with me. I will keep this book on my shelves and pick it up again in a few years and no doubt have a completely fresh reaction, perhaps with the revelation I wanted but missed on this reading.
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(From my blog -
http://disciplernetwork.blogspot.com/...)
One thing I can certainly say about N.T. Wright is that he is consistent. So far, across the four books I have read by him, he challenges the conventional notions that Christians have accumulated over the years about Jesus. Wright indeed gives a new vision of who Jesus really was, what he did, and why he matters.
Conservatives need not fear, Wright is not pushing some liberal agenda. He is trying to help us take a historical and theological approach in our understanding of Jesus. Wright does affirm the trinity. He does affirm the second coming of Jesus. What he does not do is parrot either the liberal Christian agenda nor the conservative fundamentalist agenda.
Wright contends that the gospels are more than theological. They require us to use good historiography when we interpret them. He says concerning history:
"The third element is the sheer historical complexity of speaking about Jesus. The world of first-century Palestinian Judaism - his world - was complex and dense in itself. Anyone who has tried to understand today's Middle Eastern problems can be assured that life was every bit as complicated in the first century as it is now."
This should tell us that Wright is not pushing some agenda, except the agenda of trying to get the story right. He is trying to get a more accurate picture of who Jesus was, what he did and why he matters.
There are three strands that he picks up in this book. He uses the picture of the perfect storm. A storm where three large storms combine into one to make one gigantic storm. The three storms are the Roman state, the Jewish state, and the purpose of God. A good historian should take all three of these into consideration when studying first century history.
He says of the purpose of God (page 54-55): "This claim can never be, in our sense or indeed in the ancient sense, merely "religious." It involves everything, from power and politics to culture and family. It catches up the "religious" meanings, including personal spirituality and transformation, and the philosophical ones, including ethics and worldview. But it places them all within a larger vision that can be stated quite simply: God is now in charge, and he is in charge in and through Jesus. That is the vision that explains what Jesus did and said, what happened to Jesus, and what his followers subsequently did and said. And what happened to them too."
In light of the above statement, we see that Jesus: "commands his hearers to give up their other dreams and to trust him instead. This at its simplest is what Jesus is all about."
So the bottom line is that Jesus wants his followers to see everything from his point of view and refuse to follow the state or culture. Instead we are to submit to the kingdom of God and the agenda of Jesus in the world. Jesus was not just about salvation, he was, but he was also about ministering to the needs of the world.
One other point Wright makes in the chapter "Space, Time, and Matter" is interesting. Wright's understanding of heaven is different than the typical evangelical understanding. Heaven in a sense intersects this world in a way we don't realize. Heaven and earth are joined in Jesus. Wright says: "In other words, the joining place, the overlapping circle, was taking place where Jesus was and in what he was doing. Jesus was, as it were, a walking Temple. A living, breathing place - where - Israel's - God - was - living."
In this sense the evangelical understanding of "going to heaven when we die" is misguided. Heaven is not so much a place we go to, but is found in a Person. Jesus promises in the Bible that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. It may be like Eden in Genesis, where men will walk with God in the cool of the day. The point is not that heaven is some ethereal place way out there in outer space, but is firmly planted in this context.
So who is Jesus? We need to see him not only as the Savior from sin, but also the redeemer of that which is broken. Jesus is the great healer and restorer. Jesus embodied heaven and earth in himself. He is the ruling authority, the great King. The world's agenda and culture must bow before the kingdom of God. Jesus provided a way of reconciliation, not only with God in his sacrifice on the cross, but also with the world in the sense that we are to live out the kingdom in the world. We are to love those ensnared by the world. We are called to redeem the time because the days are evil. God has prepared good works for us to do that show God's love and his healing power for a broken world. Finally, Jesus matters because his way is the only way that leads to eternal life. Not in some ethereal place way off in space, but eternal life that is the intersection of heaven and earth in the Person of Jesus Christ. -
It pains me to give a "two stars" to a Wright book, but given Goodread's guidelines, "It was OK" is my honest reaction.
I generally enjoy Wright's books quite a bit and feel that he has a very honest, likely accurate interpretation of how the people at the time were receiving the events around them.
I think I felt, perhaps cheated, this time around, for lack of a better word…or maybe just disappointed. The book touches on the "New Atheists" as a competing voice in the conversation, a coming storm, as it were. I would love nothing more than to hear Wright respond to, or otherwise dialog with any of these authors.
But there was none of that. The book quickly turns to the theological interpretations and implications of the gospels. This isn't a response to Dennett/Dawkins et al, it's simply ignoring them.
I wasn't expecting a book of apologetics, but since this theological material had been addressed already in "Simply Christian", "Surprised by Hope", and "The Challenge of Jesus" (to say nothing of his scholarly works), I was expecting something…more, especially given that he spends so much time outlining the analogy of a "perfect storm".
Wright briefly bobs above the surface of the theological into the apologetical toward the end of the book in talking about the resurrection by offhandedly mentioning that the best explanation for the empty tomb was the resurrection given that the Romans were expert killers, etc. He glosses over it because he already went over it in more depth in "Surprised by Hope" (I think?), which is fine…but also seems completely wrong.
The answer can't be "The combination of empty tomb and definite, solid appearances [of Jesus postmortem] is far and away the best explanation for everything that happened subsequently" (p.192). Actually *any* other explanation is a better explanation. Even saying "we don't know what happened" is a better explanation than the resurrection.
As Carl Sagan wrote, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". You can't just brush aside the "atheist storm", especially after devoting pages of analogy to it. Perhaps it's unfair to expect the book to be something it wasn't intended to be. I think Wright missed an opportunity though, to write a book truly "for the masses", and not simply for believers. He has enough books written for them. The Christian community needs an intellectual powerhouse like Wright to respond to the "growing atheist storm". -
At first, I was kind of disappointed as I read through this book. Wright walks us through what Jesus was trying to teach about the "kingdom of God," who he thought he was, etc. This is all ground Wright has covered before. But what I didn't realize was that he was laying the groundwork for a thrilling last section of the book.
In the last 50 or so pages, Wright gives an explanation of the Christian's current role in the kingdom of God - what we should be focused on and doing, what specifically our mission is until his return. But he zeroes in on something more specific - How should we view the *current* kingdoms of this world in light of God's kingdom? What is our role in them? What kind of governments and leaders should we be pulling for, and how should we be involved? How does God use them?
This is the first time I've ever heard a good, clear, biblical answer to any of these questions. It's a powerful book that hit me like a thunderbolt. It will definitely change how I vote in elections moving forward, and that was probably the biggest takeaway for me from the book. But I hope it also causes me to adjust how I see myself in the coming/current kingdom.
(One small gripe - "Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters" is a terrible title for this book. This isn't a "new" vision of anything, and the original British version of this book leaves the word "new" out of the title. I assume the word was put in there to sell more books, but it gives the impression that this is something no one has ever thought of before. In reality, Wright is giving an original, biblical view of God's kingdom.) -
N.T. Wright's Simply Jesus, though slow in the beginning, shows a refreshing new (or old) way of looking at Jesus. The book is aimed at putting Jesus in his historical and cultural context, and thereby showing Jesus' purpose in his ministry and how his actions across Israel contributed to that ministry. Resulting from this analysis of Jesus' life, is a more down to earth figure that is very different than how many Christians view Jesus today.
Having originally come from a Christian faith that believed that Christ just came to show us a way to heaven, I found this book' incredibly helpful as it gives the Christian faith a more practical significance. Moreover, N.T. Wright seems to have struck the middle as it were between the theological left and the right (though I would argue it is leaning more to the left), expressing that Jesus' life and resurrection has just as much significance right now as it will in the end.
My one complaint about this book was the pacing. When reading through this book, I found myself heading into numerous sorts detours before getting to the actual substance. It seemed that as soon as you thought you were about to get to a key point, you were introduced to some supplementary material that you were not expecting. The book takes a while to deliver, but it does well in the end. -
There may be no one better on 'Jesus and the gospels' today than NT Wright. It's hard to put books like this down.
The only critique is that Wright's polemical style surfaces every so often when it is unnecessary. And I think this gets him into hot water where some folks claim Wright denies the divinity of Jesus. (Which he doesn't.) I think Wright was his own worst enemy in some ways with the NPP debate in North America.
I contend that Wrightian Christology is coherent with Reformed Christology in their best forms. -
An inviting and compelling book. I've come away with the opinion that Jesus is far more interesting, far more controversial, far more political, in lots of ways 'far more' than I previously understood. Tom Wright opens up speaking of perfect storms, winds coming from different directions from which the collision creates something of a spectacular event. Likening the winds of liberal scepticism versus the winds of conservative Christianity, we can be caught up in the storm from when these winds clash with each party demanding you hold their view of faith, Christianity and Jesus himself. Tom would argue that both have some merit in their argument, but have missed the message, the build up, the historical context, the long awaited hope, the failures of other would be messiahs, which when known makes the gospels far more vibrant in meaning. The viewpoint and expectations of 1st century Jews is an important one to understand. From it, we can see better how Jesus' role and fulfilment as the Messiah fits into God's plan to rule as King, with a Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, and how through his people he will transform the world.
It's a book that gave me joy in reading as I learned new back stories, giving context to a lot of what is said by key figures in the Gospels. However, at the same time it caused worry and a sense of loss that I didn't know or understand these things sooner. The book gently warns me that there is a Western perception of who Jesus is and what he came to do, which isn't entirely accurate. The reading of some chapters flowed swiftly, others needed rereading again; and still I would want to read it all again later this year. I walk away knowing Jesus better, wanting far more to engage in his Kingdom plans for the world, through the function of his body - the church. -
I really love N.T. Wright's perspective on Jesus as it pertains to Kingdom Theology. Wright approaches scripture from a Jewish perspective, which is crucial in understanding texts of Paul and the Gospels in their original context. I think that's what makes this book so good, he spends a lot of time building up the context of the Greco-Roman world of the first century and spends ample time describing some Jewish Messianic thought prior to the time of Jesus (primarily from Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah) - i say some because i think he could've gone way deeper, but he described at length his opinion on Jesus as the Messiah, which is God becoming King on earth through the human, Jewish Messiah. While I love all of this set up, I found that the actual time spent discussing Jesus and his teachings to be a bit too "simple" (pun intended) and wish he would've dug deeper. I understand that is the consequence of reading a popular 250 page book and not a 500 page academic work, of which Wright has plenty. But that minor criticism is why I give this book 4 instead of 5 stars, and I highly recommend Christians to give some of Wright's works a read, he is very smart and biblically sound in his approach. Understanding this is more of an introduction to the study of Jesus and not a fully detailed walk through the Gospels is important to note, that this is more of a starting point.
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“The crucifixion was the shocking answer to the prayer that God’s kingdom would come on earth as in heaven.”
There's a lot in this book, and I'll need to read it again in order to digest it more. I appreciated the deeper understanding of how 3 major ideologies crashed together when Jesus entered the scene (Jews/Pharisees, Rome/Pilate & Jesus). There's also a focus on what the kingdom of heaven is that Jesus so frequently talks about. Here's part of how N.T. Wright describes it:
“‘Blessings on the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours’ (Matt. 5:3) doesn’t mean, ‘You will go to heaven when you die.’ It means you will be one of those through whom God’s kingdom, heaven’s rule, begins to appear on earth as in heaven. The Beatitudes are the agenda for kingdom people. They are not simply about how to behave, so that God will do something nice to you. They are about the way in which Jesus wants to rule the world.” -
Wright beautifully and elegantly invites his readers to consider a different perspective of Jesus.
Jesus is so much more than the Western church paints Him to be. He is riveting, challenging, beautiful, wonderful, and so much more.
I would recommend this book to anyone. -
Dense and nuanced, a refreshing way of looking at an old figure. Wright is adept at skirting the heretical, while challenging long held notions and suppositions.
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Essential.
A little theology here,
but mostly pure exegesis
of Jesus story, OT to NT,
propped with cultural contexts
to better comprehend
the audacity of Jesus interrupting
those powers attempting to commandeer
earth, even humanity, from Creator.
Thanks to Meredith Perryman
for this one. I'll be returning soon. -
Simply fantastic. Wright gives us in clear language how to look at Jesus in His historical context and the establishment of the kingdom of God. Part 2 is where all the excellent meat is to chew on, especially about the Temple and what it meant to the original audience of Jesus.
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My main problem with N.T. Wright has finally become clear to me. He has what I call an Anglican Hernia. Anglican Hernias develop when a person straddles the fence and tries to please everybody for so many years that their intellectual integrity begins to give way, and POP! - you have an Anglican Hernia. There is a subtle inconsistency in this book and its predecessor, Simply Christian. Wright tends to vacillate between endorsing contemporary biblical scholarship and a need to believe everything in the Bible really happened the way it is described. You simply can't have it both ways, and I believe he only tries because of his Anglican Hernia. Intellectually, I suspect he's much better than that, but his Church Politics won't let him express a consistent view. It's a shame, really.
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Reading NT Wright is good for my soul. When I read his books it makes me think, makes me want to know Jesus, and makes me want to do something.
This is another sensational offering from Wright. He places Jesus in his first-century Jewish context and gives us a vision of what this Jewish peasant was trying to say, do and accomplish. Wright goes against the grain of two popular ways of looking at Jesus. On one side are conservatives who say Jesus simply came to die in our place, taking God's wrath that we deserve, so we can float off to heaven when we die. On the other side are liberals who say Jesus taught a lot of good that we can follow to work for social justice. Wright's view of Jesus goes right down the middle. Both sides are right in some things: Jesus was concerned with spiritual truths and ultimate destinies (though going to heaven when you die is not the point) and Jesus was also concerned for justice in this world now. But both sides are also off in other things.
What I appreciate most about Wright's work is that he shows how Jesus understood himself as a human with a mission, but through this how Jesus also represented God. Many Christians I know tend to read the Gospels through the Council of Nicea, so they at times make statements like, "well we know Jesus was God so..." That is not taking the Gospels in their own context. Wright instead tells a story of how God's presence had deserted the Temple and in Jesus, God was returning to the temple. You end up in the same place, with Jesus being God, but you get there in through the Gospel stories, not in spite of them.
Overall, this book should be read widely. Pastors and Christian leaders should read it to get a better, broader, understanding of Jesus. Lay readers interested in the subject could benefit too. It could be used in Bible studies and Sunday school classes or any other venue where people are discussing Jesus. -
In Simply Jesus, N.T. Wright delivers a refreshing vision of Jesus' life and mission on Earth, as well as the larger role Jesus plays in God's grand narrative. Wright expertly places Jesus in his first-century Jewish context, something most modern Christians fail to adequately consider. Jesus' role as the perfect fulfillment of the meta-narrative of the Old Testament offers both validation and surprise to the various competing views of the Messiah among first-century Jews. Wright describes Jesus's life and mission as the perfect response to a "perfect storm": the Jewish hope in a Messiah figure, the dominance of the Roman Empire, and God's grand plan for redeeming humanity to himself. The vision that Wright weaves through a combination of history, Hebrew theology, early church thought, the first-century culture, and the meta-narrative of Scripture reveals the beautiful tapestry of God's work in the hearts and lives of humanity throughout time. Reductionistic formulations of the gospel as "going to heaven when you die", "salvation from the penalty of individual sin", and "Jesus as a moral example" pale in comparison to the holistic perspective of Jesus offered in this book. Readers will finish the text inspired and impassioned to share the mission of Jesus among a world (and a Church) that misunderstands and undersells what he was all about.
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Wright shines in his background analysis of biblical times. The reader will find great value in the contextual factors brought to light in this work. Additionally, the identity and purpose of Jesus are articulated and argued very well.
The sum conclusion of this book seems to be: the work of Jesus today = social activism. Fortunately, that's an almost non-sequitur conclusion to Wright's arguments concerning the identity and purpose of Jesus. This is fortunate because the reader who understands social justice as byproducts extending from the gospel rather than central to it will nonetheless find great value in the central arguments presented in this work.
This, of course, is not to marginalized the church's important social work; it simply keeps it in its rightful place as consequent and instrumental rather than subsequent and central
. -
For anyone looking for a popular level introduction to Wright's thought, this is 5 stars and highly recommended. For anyone who is more familiar with Wright and prefers his more scholarly work, this is about 3 stars as many of the themes are repetitive of what he's explored in his other works. I definitely all in the latter camp and as such didn't enjoy the book quite as much as I'd hoped. That said, this will be a very powerful and important read for those who find Wright's scholarly work a bit too daunting.
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[review removed as it no longer reflects my beliefs]
