nt wright
Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright, is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010. He then became research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford. Wright writes about theology and Christian life and the relationship between them. He advocates a biblical re-evaluation of theological matters such as justification, women's ordination, and popular Christian views about life after death. He has also criticised the idea of a literal Rapture. The author of over seventy books, Wright is highly regarded in academic and theological circles for his "Christian Origins and the Question of God" series. The third volume, The Resurrection of the Son of God, is considered by many clergy and theologians to be a seminal Christian work on the resurrection of Jesus, while the most recently released fourth volume, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, is hailed as Wright's magnum opus.
NT Wright Files
If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama that has him as the central character. -N.T. Wright
Thomas J Oord
I disagree with N.T. Wright. And I don’t often do that.
In a recent Time article titled “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To,” Wright makes some statements with which I can agree. But I don’t agree with his main point.
I Agree…
Wright begins his little essay by referring to the Christian practices of Lent. He rightly calls some explanations for God’s relation to the coronavirus “silly.” He rejects the idea God is punishing us, warning us, or giving a sign by sending this pandemic.
I agree with Wright that God is not causing the pandemic for some higher purpose. We should not “explain” suffering as God orchestrated. The coronavirus isn’t part of some divine blueprint.
I also agree when Wright says our suffering grieves God. God is “in the tears of Jesus and the anguish of the Spirit,” as he puts it. “God also laments,” says Wright.
Perhaps my favorite line is this: “Some Christians like to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.”
I couldn’t agree more!
Lament
Instead of searching for answers to God’s will and the coronavirus (as I have offered in this essay), Wright says our response should be to lament. The essay’s final paragraph provides his central argument:
“It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead. As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell. And out of that there can emerge new possibilities, new acts of kindness, new scientific understanding, new hope.”
I agree lament can be a place “where the presence and healing love of God can dwell.” And from this place, I think new possibilities, acts of kindness, scientific understanding, and new hope can emerge. God can squeeze some good from lament.
But do we have to choose between lament and explanation?
I Disagree…
“Always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you,” says the Apostle Peter (1 Pt. 3:15). I take this verse to mean we should seek explanations for what God might be doing during this pandemic. I find numerous biblical passages explaining God’s action in response to suffering.
Most of the explanations I’m encountering today for what God is doing are “silly.” I don’t think God sends the coronavirus to punish or teach us a lesson. God has not caused and is not allowing the virus to kill, harm, and cause havoc.
God is not in the evil business.
But it is part of the Christian tradition to offer a plausible explanation to what’s happening. It’s part of being Christian to seek believable answers to the “why” questions. It’s part of being a Christian to give an account of the hope we have.
We should lament the suffering in our world. But we can simultaneously seek answers to why God doesn’t prevent suffering in the first place!......................I agree with Tom Wright on many things. The usual answers for why God doesn’t stop the coronavirus are silly. Christians ought to embrace lament as we suffer the effects of the virus. And God suffers with us.
But unlike Wright, I think we should seek explanations for what God’s will is and what God’s doing. We ought to ask what God’s power must be like in light of God’s love.
We should admit God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. But God is working against the coronavirus. And God calls you, me, and all creation to overcome evil with love.
-Thomas J Ord; We Should Lament and Explain COVID-19: A Response to N.T. Wright April 7, 2020
In a recent Time article titled “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To,” Wright makes some statements with which I can agree. But I don’t agree with his main point.
I Agree…
Wright begins his little essay by referring to the Christian practices of Lent. He rightly calls some explanations for God’s relation to the coronavirus “silly.” He rejects the idea God is punishing us, warning us, or giving a sign by sending this pandemic.
I agree with Wright that God is not causing the pandemic for some higher purpose. We should not “explain” suffering as God orchestrated. The coronavirus isn’t part of some divine blueprint.
I also agree when Wright says our suffering grieves God. God is “in the tears of Jesus and the anguish of the Spirit,” as he puts it. “God also laments,” says Wright.
Perhaps my favorite line is this: “Some Christians like to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.”
I couldn’t agree more!
Lament
Instead of searching for answers to God’s will and the coronavirus (as I have offered in this essay), Wright says our response should be to lament. The essay’s final paragraph provides his central argument:
“It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead. As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell. And out of that there can emerge new possibilities, new acts of kindness, new scientific understanding, new hope.”
I agree lament can be a place “where the presence and healing love of God can dwell.” And from this place, I think new possibilities, acts of kindness, scientific understanding, and new hope can emerge. God can squeeze some good from lament.
But do we have to choose between lament and explanation?
I Disagree…
“Always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you,” says the Apostle Peter (1 Pt. 3:15). I take this verse to mean we should seek explanations for what God might be doing during this pandemic. I find numerous biblical passages explaining God’s action in response to suffering.
Most of the explanations I’m encountering today for what God is doing are “silly.” I don’t think God sends the coronavirus to punish or teach us a lesson. God has not caused and is not allowing the virus to kill, harm, and cause havoc.
God is not in the evil business.
But it is part of the Christian tradition to offer a plausible explanation to what’s happening. It’s part of being Christian to seek believable answers to the “why” questions. It’s part of being a Christian to give an account of the hope we have.
We should lament the suffering in our world. But we can simultaneously seek answers to why God doesn’t prevent suffering in the first place!......................I agree with Tom Wright on many things. The usual answers for why God doesn’t stop the coronavirus are silly. Christians ought to embrace lament as we suffer the effects of the virus. And God suffers with us.
But unlike Wright, I think we should seek explanations for what God’s will is and what God’s doing. We ought to ask what God’s power must be like in light of God’s love.
We should admit God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. But God is working against the coronavirus. And God calls you, me, and all creation to overcome evil with love.
-Thomas J Ord; We Should Lament and Explain COVID-19: A Response to N.T. Wright April 7, 2020