parables of a prodigal world

I couldn't believe my eyes. N.T. Wright left a blog comment (he claims its his first one ever) over at Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed Blog , in reference to the review series on Surprised by Hope. Check it out (it's Comment #17). I'll admit it. I'm jealous. Grace and Peace, Raffi

Epilogue Top 10 (+3) Excepts from "Surprised by Hope" I thought long and hard about a tailpiece to the Pirate Review Series. My initial thought was to do a piece about what I've learned from the book, how its changed my perspective, etc. But inasmuch as the book is a compilation of so much other material by Wright (lectures, sermons, articles) that has been around for a few years now, and inasmuch as I've devoured all of it, and inasmuch as trying to describe how it has all changed my perspective would be like trying to describe how Einstein's work changed the perspective of the scientific community in the early 20th century, I figured that may be too grand a task. The short answer to how Wright's work, as summarized in this book, changed my perspective would be this: "I was blind but now I see." So I opted instead for a somewhat more easily digestible final post, a list of my top 10 favorite quotes/excerpts from the book. I've tried to structure...

Chapter 15 Reshaping the Church for Mission (2): Living the Future -- Part II OK, OK! This will be the final post of the series; well, the review series, anyway. I might do one or two more riffs over the next few days, maybe a Top 10 excepts from the book, or a parable to put it all in perspective (Wright has one after the final chapter, what he calls a "Tailpiece" where he examines two imaginary Easter sermons, but I'll leave that for everyone to read for themselves inasmuch as its not conducive to summary, but is itself one). So in the final section of this concluding chapter, Wright sets off to summarize six areas of Christian spirituality when reviewed in light of "[God's] Easter call to us to wake up and come alive within His new world." New Birth and Baptism Wright here seeks to provide a greatly condensed theology of baptism, and the new birth, the "born againness" that stems from it. His summary is based on his view of sacramental theolog...

Chapter 15 Reshaping the Church for Mission (2): Living the Future We've reached the final chapter of Surprised by Hope. It's been quite a journey, starting as we did in those risky, pre-publication days. I guess both my readers and I should be relieved that we've arrived at the final post of the series! Well, not quite. You see, in Chapter 15, Wright sets off to discuss the various areas of the Christian life that would be redefined if we were to take seriously the picture that has been redrawn in Chapters 1-14: Celebrating Easter; Space, Time and Matter (redefined in light of resurrection); Mission (redefined in light of the redefinition of space, time and matter); Baptism; Eucharist; Prayer; Scripture; Holiness; Love. Quite a list of topics, huh? So rather than trying tackle all of them in one post, today I'm going to let the good Bishop's own words do the talking regarding the first three subjects. There are two reasons for this. First, it would be impossibl...