The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture

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  Can't help but thinking that in some ways, this is "Diet Wright" or "Wright-lite." Don't get me wrong, he does not pander in this book - he still calls the Church to a deeper engagement with our sacred text, pushing aside the thoughtless, prejudiced readings that have characterized the Western Church in recent years. I say that it is "Wright-lite" in the sense that he makes many unsubstantiated claims throughout the book without giving adequate notes or support... (show more)

  Can't help but thinking that in some ways, this is "Diet Wright" or "Wright-lite." Don't get me wrong, he does not pander in this book - he still calls the Church to a deeper engagement with our sacred text, pushing aside the thoughtless, prejudiced readings that have characterized the Western Church in recent years. I say that it is "Wright-lite" in the sense that he makes many unsubstantiated claims throughout the book without giving adequate notes or support material to back up some very wide-reaching assertions. This book is not really written for those interested in an academic treatment of scripture, but for the educated lay person who desires to critically think about how we read the Bible as the Church. Much of this work is predicated on other more rigorous works by Wright (see The New Testament and the People of God, for example). In fact, the five act method that Wright advocates in this book is a paired down version of the same method he expounds on more in The New Testament and the People of God. All in all, this was a fairly easy read and, as always for Wright, thought-provoking. I would definitely recommend it. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Oct 06, 2009 at 02:50AM

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  N.T. Wright is simply brilliant. He puts forth his objective and clearly and concisely goes about proving it over the course of each book with a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the topic at hand. This was no exception, a very clear and well thought out argument for the authority of scripture in the modern world. Wright proposes support for a literal reading of scripture--and literal doesn't mean inerrant or fundamentalist in his case. Rather, it means studying scripture and reading it to ... (show more)

  N.T. Wright is simply brilliant. He puts forth his objective and clearly and concisely goes about proving it over the course of each book with a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the topic at hand. This was no exception, a very clear and well thought out argument for the authority of scripture in the modern world. Wright proposes support for a literal reading of scripture--and literal doesn't mean inerrant or fundamentalist in his case. Rather, it means studying scripture and reading it to discover how the author originally intended each passage to be interpreted. If a parable is allegorical and moral infused, a literal reading doesn't interpret it as history. Wright is arguing here for getting to the bottom of each passage to discover how it was originally intended and not being blind to genre of writing style, historical development and intelligent exegisis. The goal seems to be to reincorporate public worship reading and private study and devotion on and of scripture as a valid central theme of Christianity after emerging from and a somewhat continuance of the Bible wars.
  All of this said, as soon as I next read a Borg or Crossan book I'll find myself gravitating more to their viewpoints. Borg is the type of writer who displays where he is as a place I feel myself at as well. Wright's vision is always one I wish I could more fully adopt, yet I simply at this point in my life can't quite. Yet he's always a good balancing read in Theology for a liberal like myself. (show less)

   

   

  by Dustin Hamby on Feb 18, 2009 at 11:31PM

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