Simply Christian

Why Christianity Makes Sense
N.T. Wright



Let me just begin by saying, I've really enjoyed reading this book, and if I sound somewhat excited about it then you'll need to excuse me, this is not the place to look for unbiased reviews, these are after all, my own pages with my own thoughts, highly subjective and incredibly one sided.

I believe that the way to eat something you don't like is by following it with something you do like, so eat the sour first then the sweet will taste even sweeter, eat the cabbage then the sausage, or the other way around if you want. It often seems that way with reading as well, except that in this case, where I read 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins last month and then picked up this little gem this month, was less planned than incidental. When I finished Dawkins I hadn't received 'Simply Christian' yet, so there was a bit of time between the two books, but this book reminded me again of the pleasure of reading an intelligent writer doing justice to complex matters.

So I've enjoyed the book, like a good wine, somewhat slowly, drinking it in, and letting the thoughts roll over in my mind, giving the words time to sink in, to really let them find the right spot, so to say. There's so much to enjoy, and I could quote at length, but I could get in trouble for doing that so I will restrain myself and just let you discover for yourself the joy(s) of reading 'Simply Christian'.

It's not a big book, 240 pages, highly readable font on slightly grayish paper, not the glare of textbook glossy, but more the sense of a story, I got the hardcover, I think cause there is no paperback (yet?). It's important to be reminded that this is an author who has written and still writes big, long, academic books on the historical facts of the Christian faith, a man who is at home in Hebrew and Greek and reads widely in complicated theological treatises, who has made a life out of studying deeply the scriptures and their meaning(s), a man who, if we didn't know better, would be easily stereotyped as that dull, boring person who's on a level all together different from us 'normal' or 'lay' people. You know the types, who are so intellectual they cannot speak to someone who isn't.

The reason we need to be reminded is that it's not obvious from this book (it is from some of his other books). This is the same guy who wrote 'Climax of the Covenant', with it's deep grammatical exegesis of the original Greek and its technicalities. A man who has written a commentary on Romans. Now we have this little book and he has proven again that he is a good writer, who can give us the meat of Christianity without boring us to death with technical theological or linguistic jargon.

Beginning with what Wright calls 'echos' of a voice: justice, spirituality, relationships and beauty, he shows how the whole of the Biblical story from Genesis to Revelation follows one main thread, that God created a good world, that we as humans wrecked it and that God's plan has been and still is to put it back to rights. That with the resurrection of Jesus (yes he believes in the resurrection) God has decisively brought about a change in the created order and that we, who call ourselves Christians (died to the world and alive in Christ) are now part of the story, to bring God's plan, His Kingdom if you will, into practice through living as God has called us to do.

This is a great read on an important and great subject. I very highly recommend it, for those who are looking for an answer (or more than one) to life's great questions, and also for those who need to be encouraged or challenged in their faith, this should really be(come) somewhat of a standard read.

Let me quote a little from the closing chapter of the book, just so you can get a glimpse, a taste, of what's being offered here:

(on art/beauty) “Perhaps art can help us to look beyond the immediate beauty with all its puzzles, and to glimpse that new creation which makes sense not only of beauty but of the world as a whole, ourselves within it. Perhaps.”

“We are called to be part of God's new creation, called to be agents of that new creation here and now. We are called to model and display that new creation in symphonies and family life, in restorative justice and poetry, in holiness and service to the poor, in politics and painting.” “Christian holiness is not (as people often imagine) a matter of denying something good. It is about growing up and grasping something better.”

“It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which he has thrown open before us.”

If I must criticize, the only thing I would mention is the sub-title of the book, 'why Christianity makes sense' and my criticism would be two questions: Does it? and Should it?