This book is been given out widely in Winchester Diocese as part of the Bishop's plan to inspire a collective vision of mission and the future of the Church. I am not sure whether this is the book that I would have chosen on which to built this house - particularly as I am not sure how it really relates to the main substance of the Bishop's vision as I have heard the Bishop talk about it. But enough of the scene setting.
Tom Wright is a man, so he tells us, who for many long years had the feeling that something wasn't right with the Church (in fact with the whole of Christian civilisation - at least this side of Byzantium - for the last millennia and a half) and finally he has realised what it is. Such is the revelation that his 250 pages are left busting at the seams with the vigour and passion of his exposition of this grave error.
What, you may ask, can this new truth be? Well - it boils down to the fact that the Church hasn't and doesn't pay enough attention to Jesus. This error is expressed in two main forms, first there are those who focus solely on the Cross, Jesus has no being other than his death and resurrection, and second there are those who focus solely on his life and teaching, Jesus is a wise moral teacher but implicitly or explicitly his divinity is denied.
Now I am not saying Tom is wrong but it is a bit hard to take that the great theologian bishop has taken 64 years to work this one out - this is not news Tom! And what I really found difficult about this book was having spent so long labouring the point about the past and present errors of the Church I found little of substances about how we go about re-ordering our lives in proper relationship to an integrated vision of Jesus.
If you do want a read I suggest that the Charity shops of Hampshire will have a glut of copies in the coming months...
No comments:
Post a Comment