Against Nothingness

This year, the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theology Society focused on the issue of justification.  Naturally, N.T. Wright was one of the speakers.  Sadly, I couldn't go to this particular event.  Instead, I have been devouring blog posts, clips, and whatever I can find about the conference.  Mostly, I had been very disappointed.  It seemed like no progress was made as I read again and again the same tired complaints based on misunderstandings.  Then I read THIS POST .  I don't know who Andrew Cowan is, but in my opinion he has a very clear grasp of what has been going on.  So, let me share some of my thoughts.  For those of you who aren't into this debate I will try to make this somewhat readable.  Me and N.T. Wright I read N.T. Wright for the first time ten years ago.  A friend in university read What St. Paul Really Said   and passed it on to me to read. Despite the book being a garbled mess which I would never re...

N.T. Wright, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters . New York: HarperOne, 2010. 307 pgs. I am a big fan of N.T. Wright. I don't think there is anyone I ever agree with completely (being in school for so long has taught me that if I ever found such a person, or read such a book, I would either have been insufficiently critical during my reading process, or else I am reading something I myself wrote :) but, that said, I have found very few scholars who can match Wright's coherence in presenting an overall biblical picture, or who are as compelling as he is in the details of their biblical analysis. Those, of course, are general comments. What about this book? After You Believe is, apparently, the third book in an unannounced, but now completed, trilogy written by Wright. It began with Simply Christian , continued in Suprised by Hope , and is completed in this volume. In itself, this book is an argument for, and outline of, the idea of Christian character and v...