Evil and the Justice of God - Hardcover

Wright, N. T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0830833986 ISBN 13: 9780830833986

Publisher: IVP Books, 2006

Synopsis

Merit Award, 2007 Christianity Today Theology/Ethics Book With every earthquake and war, understanding the nature of evil and our response to it becomes more urgent. Evil is no longer the concern just of ministers and theologians but also of politicians and the media. We hear of child abuse, ethnic cleansing, AIDS, torture and terrorism, and rightfully we are shocked. But, N. T. Wright says, we should not be surprised. For too long we have naively believed in the modern idea of human progress. In contrast, postmodern thinkers have rightly argued that evil is real, powerful and important, but they give no real clue as to what we should do about it. In fact, evil is more serious than either our culture or our theology has supposed. How then might Jesus' death be the culmination of the Old Testament solution to evil but on a wider and deeper scale than most imagine? Can we possibly envision a world in which we are delivered from evil? How might we work toward such a future through prayer and justice in the present? These are the powerful and pressing themes that N. T. Wright addresses in this book that is at once timely and timeless.

About this title

About the Author

N.T. Wright is Bishop of Durham and was formerly Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. Wright's full-scale works The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God are part of a projected six-volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God. Among his many other published works are The Original Jesus, What Saint Paul Really Said and The Climax of the Covenant. He is also coauthor with Marcus Borg of The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions and the volume on Colossians and Philemon in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series.

Reviews

Why does evil persist in a world created by a good God? And why does the church seem so feeble in counteracting evil? Wright, a New Testament scholar who is Anglican bishop of Durham, U.K., and author of several well-received volumes, including Jesus and the Victory of God, addresses these questions in a readable and compelling plea to renew the church's compassionate mission in these challenging times. While many look to secular institutions to fix society's problems, Wright counsels that Christians must envision what life will be like in the coming Kingdom, and then suggests ways in which they can help bring about that world—one where suffering and war are things of the past. Wright expresses godly concern and deep devotion, and offers a vision that he believes is workable even in the midst of so many problems. He sees the call to the church as an extension of God's call to Israel: to be a light to all the nations, a vessel of God's love to the whole world. Jesus, he insists, "articulates and models the call to Israel to be Israel." Wright calls upon the church to accept the challenge to represent God in the world in its service and its witness, and to reach out to those who are hurting. (Nov.)
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When the bishop of Durham, Christian scholar and excellent popular exegete, turns to that sturdy theological tough nut, the problem of evil, he fills old answers with fresh hope. That is fortunate, for the two most current answers to it are hollow. The ideology of progress--that there is only constant improvement toward perfection--was quashed by the Holocaust, and the postmodernist tenet most succinctly stated as "Shit happens" declares us powerless to fight evil. But God, Wright argues, has conclusively answered the problem of evil in his promises to the Jews in the Old Testament and to everyone through Christ's death and resurrection. Wright's biblical exegesis is brilliant enough to revive many a flagging spirit, and the advice on how to use faith in God's promises to deal with evil in the real world is even more restorative. Live within the kingdom of God now, imaginatively but also really, by living in holiness, and practice forgiveness (e.g., in the nascent restorative justice movement). Familiar teaching made vital and compelling again. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: IVP Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0830833986
• ISBN 13: 9780830833986
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176