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Simply Jesus continues Tom Wright’s engaging Simply Christian, the new equivalent of C S Lewis’ Mere Christianity for the modern age. With 200 years of hindsight in Biblical scholarship, Tom Wright asks how we should retell the story of Jesus for today. For Christians facing a world that openly challenges their faith he offers a provocative new understanding of Jesus and how we might present him in our times.
Simply Jesus – defending the past and losing the present
Human or divine, miraculous or misunderstood; the church has grown used to fighting every little battle over Jesus’ image and identity.
While critics erode its institutions and beliefs the church continues to shore up its age old traditions. Turning the batttle on its head, Tom Wright asks if these traditions serve only to the hide real story of Jesus.
If Jesus’ would be protectors are so focused on tradition they could be failing to deal with what the New Testament actually teaches.
Simply Jesus – a new perspective on the original truth
The real challenge for today’s church is to present who Jesus was and is and why that still matters.
In Simply Jesus, respected authority, former bishop of Durham and bestselling author Tom Wright sums up a lifetime’s research into the Jesus of the New Testament.
Tom Wright asks us to hear the story of a carpenter’s son from Nazareth as if we were hearing it for the first time.
“Jesus” he says, “- the Jesus we might discover if we really looked is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we had ever imagined.” With compelling argument he goes on to say, “We have successfully managed to hide behind other questions and to avoid the huge, world-shaking challenge of Jesus’ central claim and achievement.”
Simply Jesus – the kingdom of God in the public domain
In reply to the church’s complaints that the world has reduced the Christian message to a footnote in its moral directory, he says “It is we, the churches, who have been the real reductionists."
"We have reduced the kingdom of God to private piety; the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience; Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark tale.”
“Piety, conscience, and ultimate happiness are important,” continues Tom Wright, “but not nearly as important as Jesus himself.”
As the church faces the many challenges of the twenty-first century, Tom Wright has presented a vision of Jesus that meets and counters them.
Simply Jesus by Tom Wright – the author in brief
Tom (Nicholas Thomas) Wright is a former Bishop of Durham and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars.
Now a professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews, Tom Wright has taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill (Montreal), and Oxford Universities.
Tom Wright has made numerous TV appearances and written more than 50 books including Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Challenge of Jesus and the popular 'For Everyone series of New Testament commentaries.
