Book Review: Jesus and the Victory of God by N. T. Wright
I should say this up front: the idea that I'm going to be able to intelligently "review" Wright's massive Jesus and the Victory of God in a 250-word blog post is ridiculous at best, and insane at worst. But I'm posting individual reviews for each book I finish this year, so here goes.
I first became familiar with N. T. Wright through some of his shorter books: What Saint Paul Really Said, Simply Christian, and, of course, Surprised by Hope. Somewhere along the way I found out that he has written a three-volume set specifically about Jesus, and so I requested one of the volumes for Christmas back a year ago. (Why I requested Volume Two of a three volume set is beyond me... but I did.)
Sure, there have been a million books written about Jesus. So why does Wright's stand out? Wright takes the angle of exploring what I'll call the "historical" Jesus. What was Jesus, the man, thinking? What were his goals? How did the things he said fit into the theological and political scene of first-century Palestine? Wright answers these questions brilliantly, with clarity and insight.
As just a small example, Wright at one point asks this question: Did Jesus know that he was the Son of God? Certainly we affirm that Jesus was fully man and fully God, but how did Jesus the man know that he was God? Wright gives by way of answer this analogy: Jesus knew he was the Son of God in the same way a musician knows they are a musician. They have the skills and abilities of a musician, and something deep within them says 'I simply must make this music'. As such, a person knows they are a musician. Similarly, Jesus knew he had the skills and abilities of the Messiah, and had the internal calling. It may not be a perfect analogy, but it certainly provides opportunity to stop and think.
Jesus and the Victory of God deals with Jesus' life and teaching, leading right up to his death. Wright then devotes the entire third volume in his series to the Resurrection. (I got that book for Christmas this year.) Jesus and the Victory of God isn't a simple read - it's more like a college-level scholarly text. But if you're willing to make the effort to dig through it, it will reward you with insight into the life and purposes of Jesus.
Definitely recommended. [You can buy Jesus and the Victory of God from amazon.com.]
January 27th, 2009 - 15:46
This is the volume where he deals with the resurrection isn't it? I skimmed through it and came away impressed that an expectation of resurrection would have been historically consistent with lots of jewish thought at the time, though the uniqueness of Christ's resurrection was that he was the only one resurrected. Anyway, kudos on reading such a weighty volume!
January 27th, 2009 - 19:44
Jim, actually the next volume is the one entirely focused on the resurrection. This one only takes us right up to it. Still I completely agree with your observation – the way that Christ's message fit with the historical expectations of the Jewish people of the time is amazing.
January 27th, 2009 - 22:30
Another reason Jesus knew he was the son of God was likely the fact that his parents told him that he was ALL THE TIME.
I'm just hypothesizing, though, like everyone else.
January 27th, 2009 - 22:32
I meant to say "probably" between "parents" and "told."
(I don't like the fact that my name/email/blog url won't save.)