The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God) Paperback – September 1, 1992

Tom Wright is a leading New Testament scholar and retired Anglican priest and bishop in Europe. His works have had considerable influence in New Testament scholarship in recent decades. This book is the first of his multivolume work on New Testament history and theology. This first book in the series deals mostly with setting the stage for the later volumes by laying the foundational groundwork by which Wright will proceed. Wright makes his aim for this volume (and the whole series) clear when he suggests that the New Testament “Must be read so as to be understood, read within appropriate contexts, within an acoustic which will allow its full overtones to be heard.” (6) This aim is clear throughout, as Wright seats the New Testament within its historical context. The book is broken into five parts consisting of sixteen total chapters. Part I is only one chapter long and serves as an introduction to the task at hand. In this chapter Wright discusses the four main ways the New Testament has been read in recent centuries: pre-critical, historical, theological, and post-modern, noting key characteristics of each. Wright determines that New Testament history and theology should not be separated and he aims to unite the two in this work. Part II consists of four chapters in which Wright attempts to lay out the “Tools for the Task.” He argues for what he calls a ‘critical-realist epistemology’ which tries to take seriously the premodern sense of the New Testament’s authority, the modern insistence on the value of history, and the postmodern emphasis on critically understanding the reading process itself and the reader. Wright says that his epistemological position acknowledges the “reality of the thing known, as something other than the knower, while also fully acknowledging that the only access we have to this reality lies along the spiraling path of appropriate dialogue or conversation between the knower and the thing known. (35 italics excluded) Wright critiques the common idea of a ‘neutral’ or ‘objective’ observer, noting that this is actually impossible and that everyone writes (and lives) within a certain worldview. Wright describes story as the basic category and characteristic of worldview. Worldview narratives compete for subversion of one another. Christianity as a public proclaimed worldview story aims to subvert other world views, begging the question of which worldview is best? Since everyone operates within a worldview, presuming their worldview to be right, we must abandon the ‘hard and fast’ distinction between the subjective and objective. The two are always combined and we therefore ought to hear other worldviews and try to determine which one is right. It is with the view of human writing as worldview articulation through story that Wright proceeds to a discussion of history. Wright points out that history is neither bare facts nor ‘subjective interpretations’ but rather “the meaningful narrative of events and intentions.” (82) History writing always is by its very nature selective and interpretive. Ancient historians knew about being critical with their writing but did not share the impossible intention to be “objective.” For theses reasons the subversive stories of the New Testament should be evaluated comparatively with other worldviews. The bottom line here is that all history is in fact interpretive history. Most scholars want to dismiss the history of the gospels because the eighteenth century rationalist/enlightenment worldview excludes the possibility of other worldviews. (92) Wright states that worldviews involve “The presuppositional, pre-cognitive stage of a culture or society.” (122) A worldview is the lens through which every individual and society views anything. Further, all worldviews have theological elements embedded in them, highlighting the ‘God-dimension’ of the worldview. The theology of the Christian worldview sets forth a comprehensive and subversive worldview about all of reality as public truth. Wright goes on to argue that we need to approach the New Testament using the historical method and on the basis of hypothesis and verification. A good hypothesis should 1) get all the data, 2) be (relatively) simple, and 3) help to explain other related issues and problems. (100) The best hypothesis encompassing all the data of early Christianity and remaining fairly simple in relation to other hypotheses should be chosen. Part III is the largest part of the book and contains five chapters dealing with first century Judaism. Though Wright recognizes the great diversity found within first century Judaism, he still finds much to be characteristic of the vast majority. He discusses these similarities by looking at the stories, symbols, practices, beliefs and hopes of Israel. Wright posits that the all encompassing worldview of the first century Jew expected to see the purposes of the covenant God for his people realized. Since the Babylonian exile Israel had always had some type of overlord, leading to the expectancy of some type of full liberation from exile yet to come. These Jews did not expect some Western-type heavenly disembodies bliss, but longed for a real deliverance on their land and a liberation akin to the Exodus or Maccabean revolt. (170) The average Jew was waiting for a conclusion to their story. The primary symbols of the worldview were Temple, Land, Torah, and Racial Identity. The main practices of Torah observance were circumcision, Sabbath and kosher laws. Monotheism, election and eschatology are considered by Wright to be the three major beliefs central to the first century Jewish worldview. The average Jew would have also hoped for salvation (defined as rescue from oppression), resurrection, and idealized life under the proper reign of God. In part IV Wright finally spends five chapters looking at the first Christian century, reading their story(s) in the light of the second temple Jewish context laid out in part III. After laying some historical groundwork Wright evaluates the practices, symbols and stories of the early Christian movement. The three main practices of the early movement were missionary work, baptism, and the Eucharist. All three of which were firmly established in the middle of the first century. Early Christianity did not share the same symbols as their pagan and Jewish neighbors, but had as its major symbol the cross. Wright’s evaluation of the early Christian stories includes discussion of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul. He locates all of them firmly in the first century Jewish milieu but yet sees them as having redefined the central Jewish beliefs due to understanding Christ as the climax and continuation of Israel’s story. All five are telling a subversive version of the larger Jewish story which the world is to hear. Wright also discusses ‘shorter stories’ which is essentially a discussion of form criticism. Wright then provides a preliminary sketch of the early Christian movement, noting the missionary nature, symbols, familial and socio-political aspects of the community, and broad diversity. He also notes the nature of Christian theology as Jewish theology redrawn around Jesus and the divine spirit, with the hope of the return of Christ, resurrection and a new heavens and new earth to dwell in. This book is very dense and detailed and contains so many smaller arguments embedded within the large arguments that it would be difficult to discuss them all. The book seemed to me to be well argued and very thoughtful. It was unique how Wright proceeded on almost ‘secular’ type historical grounds and still worked his way to very conservative conclusions. The analysis of Judaism was very helpful and illuminating for New Testament study. His early chapters focusing on history writing as interpretation of events through a particular worldview lens provide an excellent foundation for New Testament studies which should have to be reckoned with. Though this book is somewhat laborious to wade through, I think it was well worth the effort and serious students of the New Testament should probably put in the hours to get through it.

Right at the outset let me just say that I typically don't read theology books from British theologians, so I have been hesitant to read N.T. Wright simply because most of the theologians from GB or Europe in general lean more on the liberal side. I recently listened to a broadcast from apologetics.com where they reviewed Wright's theology, focusing on the so-called "New Perspective on Paul (NPP)". They had some positive things to say about Wright and they did recommend reading him.Overall my impression from reading this book is that reading Wright is both challenging and beneficial. Why beneficial? Because I think in general it is good to challenge oneself and wrestle with perhaps a different perspective. On the whole I believe Wright is conservative in his theology. He affirms the vast majority of the doctrines that conservative evangelicals hold to. I have not yet studied Wright enough to where I can really comment in full on whether or not I agree with him; especially when discussing the NPP.Now, getting to the book itself, what I appreciated the most about the book is that Wright is an accomplished historian. He brings fresh light on the history of second temple Judaism (the period from the Babylonian exile in 583 BC to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD). I do enjoy history, and it was refreshing to read proper historical context while discussing theology. Wright's method is not just biblical theology (the development of theological ideas throughout the Bible), but it is also historical inquiry. For example, Wright affirms the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. (I can't really cover that until I read volume 3 in this particular series.) He also takes the New Testament seriously. Liberal scholars do not, saying that the NT has been too corrupted by either later injection of theology or by copyist mistakes.Wright begins the book by discussing his historical methodology. He takes historical sources seriously. He does not try to fit the historical sources into a pre-conceived theory. He allows the sources to speak for themselves. Of course he uses the NT and other non-canonical books for his data.What Wright does in this book is to set the stage for the rest of the series. His main focus is on the development of the historical context and social context of the New Testament. In order to have a clear understanding of the New Testament context we have to understand the cultural milieu in which Jesus grew up. How did the Jews view Jesus? What were their expectations for the Messiah? What were their struggles politically. How had they resisted those states who were oppressing them? These are some of the questions that Wright to skillfully addresses in this book.This volume is volume 1 in a planned 6 volume set. So far, Wright has written 3 of the six. I was stretched as I read this book. To be honest parts of the book were tedious. Thankfully those parts were few. On the whole, as far as theological tomes go, I found Wright's writing to be very engaging and interesting. If you are not a history lover, you will probably find this book uninteresting.Here's a broad brush picture of this first volume:Part 1: Introduction - Wright compares those who only think the Bible serves to delineate theology without reference to the importance of history versus those who only see the Bible through a historical lens. Wright tries to strike a middle ground arguing for a historical-critical methodology; taking the theology seriously while maintaining historical context.Part 2: Tools for the Task - Here Wright sets about the task of establishing a proper epistemology of history: What can we know and how certain can we be? Then he deals with critical realism and the structure of stories. He delves into first century history and the proper approach to historical inquiry of this period. He then briefly examines the New Testament for its history and theology.Part 3: First Century Judaism within the Greco-Roman World - This part focuses on the Jewish nation. He studies their culture, stories, writing, politics, rebellions against authority, the second temple, the land of Israel, expectations for the Messiah, etc. In short he covers in detail all aspects of Jewish society from (583 BC to 70 AD and even beyond that). This is the meat of the book and very interesting if one has never studied this period.Part 4: The First Christian Century - In this part of course Wright studies the early Christians and their practices. How did they see themselves in relation to Judaism? What conflicts arose? How did they worship and how did they view Jesus? He also examines textual critical issues. He deals with the so-called Q document. He looks at the synoptic gospels and Paul's writings.Part 5: Conclusion - He sums up the book and sets the stage for volume 2.So overall, I would recommend this book. While this is a scholarly work, it is not overly technical. It will require some general historical knowledge and familiarity with the Old Testament in order to appreciate his arguments. Wright is a skillful writer and makes this difficult task enjoyable. I look forward to the rest of the volumes in this series.

One must be patient while reading N.T. Wright. But it's worth it. Complete and thorough. What I like most about him is that he plays devil's advocate sometimes, asking the most uncomfortable questions about Jesus, Paul and the Bible. But when he wraps it all up, your faith gets stronger and your knowledge increases. Very good author.

What a book, I would suggest to anyone. This will show how the first century church was like! Go for it

The book was something of a revelation (if you'll pardon the pun) as it is the longest introduction I have ever read. Wright spends about the first third of the book (which is 500 pages long - and they ain't exactly small pages in large print) discussing his methodology and setting out his stall in meticulous detail. I know this may not be of particular interest to readers who want to get the Wright's summary of Judaic and early Christian history, but it is well worth it, I think, as it demonstrates the level of care needed to approach this topic.Having set himself up, Wright then proceeds to give a summary history of Judaic thought roughly from the time of Judas Maccabeus through the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He acknowledges that this is a summary rather than a detailed analysis and does provide plenty of references for the interested reader to follow-up on. At times, it is a bit dry and it took me a while to go through; I would readily admit to not being having taken it all in.From here, Wright gives what is, in my opinion, the most fascinating chapter: an overview of Christianity from roughly A.D. 30 to A.D. 125. Wright acknowledges the difficulty in trying to study the history of the church given the scarcity over the contemporary sources, and their reliability (e.g. not trusting what Eusebius had to say without at least a pinch of salt).In both his sections on Judaism and early Christianity, he looks at what they did (praxis), believed and hoped for. The reader should always be aware that this is an introduction, so Wright brushes on topics he intends to look at in much more detail later on. It serves as a useful appetiser and I can't wait to get going on Jesus and Victory of God.There were points in it where I was not convinced by Wright's arguments, though these tended to be on comparatively minor areas. Overall, it is a work of immense integrity and scholarship. It will of interest to anyone who is interested in how historical and theological research is carried out by the best scholars in their field, to those who want to find out about the history and beliefs of the early Christians and the world in which they lived and will be of immense value to all who read it.

Excellent for looking at the background and culture of the New Testament

One of Wright's great insights is in seeing that second Temple Judaism understood itself primarily in terms of "story" and only secondarily via propositional forms. This forms the most an encyclopaedia of material introducing the reader to the Jewish religious context out of which Christianity emerged. A very worthwhile purchase or an editor and scholar alike.