Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense [Hardcover]

N. T. Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2010

Why is justice fair? Why are so many people pursuing spirituality? Why do we crave relationship? And why is beauty so beautiful? N. T. Wright argues that each of these questions takes us into the mystery of who God is and what he wants from us. For two thousand years Christianity has claimed to answer these mysteries, and this renowned biblical scholar and Anglican bishop shows that it still does today. Like C. S. Lewis did in his classic Mere Christianity, Wright makes the case for Christian faith from the ground up, assuming that the reader is starting from ground zero with no predisposition to and perhaps even some negativity toward religion in general and Christianity in particular. His goal is to describe Christianity in as simple and accessible, yet hopefully attractive and exciting, a way as possible, both to say to outsides ÔYou might want to look at this further,Ö and to say to insiders ÔYou may not have quite understood this bit clearly yet.Ö

Editorial Reviews

Review

“We are in Mere Christianity territory here [...] Bound to be a classic.” (Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis )

“Wright attempts a 21st-century counterpart to Lewis’s Mere Christianity. . . . notably clear, readable and thought-provoking.” (Richard Ostling, AP )

“N.T. Wright is simply crucial; his writing can transform one’s life.” (Anne Rice, author of CHRIST THE LORD )

“N.T. Wright is uniquely qualified to convey the enduring substance of Christian life and thought to contemporary people.” (Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy, University of Southern California, and author of The Divine Conspiracy )

“Brilliant Bishop Wright is one of God’s best gifts to our decaying Western church...” (J.I. Packer, professor of theology, Regent College )

“Readers will welcome such ready access to one of the fine teachers of the church.” (Walter Brueggemann )

“Wright offers...[an] intelligent view of Christianity, and his title invites us to compare his work with Lewis’s [...] Mere Christianity.” (Washington Post )

“Simply Christian is simply outstanding. It will confirm, challenge, and deepen your grasp of Christian faith and practice.” (Christianity Today )

“Simply Christian is an amazing testimony to the vitality…of the Christian faith—and to the skill of N. T. Wright.” (Will Willimon, Bishop, North Alabama Conference, United Methodist Church )

“[No one] has done more to clarify what [...] Christianity looks like in our day than Tom Wright.” (John Ortberg, teaching pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church )

“Fresh, engaging, and highly readable…Simply Christian [is] an invaluable guide for seekers and doubters as well as believers.” (Os Guinness, author of Unspeakable: Facing Up to the Challenge of Faith )

About the Author

N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. For twenty years Wright taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford Universities, and he has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning author of After You Believe, Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Challenge of Jesus, and The Meaning of Jesus (coauthored with Marcus Borg), as well as the much-heralded series Christian Origins and the Question of God.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (February 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061920622
• ISBN-13: 978-0061920622
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

538 of 552 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mere Christianity..., March 18, 2006

By 

A. Ort "aorto" (Youngstown, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (Hardcover)

I come from a background of nominal Presbyterian Christianity followed by many years in my adult life of fundamental, Pentecostal Christianity. My early years provided me with a dull version of Christianity; my later years the other extreme. Burned out from the emotionalism, the overemphasis on the sensational and what I see as the move toward the gospel of materialism cloaked in Christianese, I had just about given up on Christianity as a whole, settling instead for my own version.

I stumbled across this book in my local bookstore today and was drawn to it as I really enjoy N.T. Wright's ability to take on modern criticism without ever wavering in his faith nor compromising its essentials. He has a way of stating the essentials simply without bogging them down in highbrow theological language. I started the book and could not put it down.

Within a few pages a wave of peace and comfort washed over me. Rather than critiquing Christianity as expressed today, he opted instead to focus on its essence, to keep the story focused on what is right with Christianity and how it makes sense, even - or especially - today.

He never sets out to prove that it is right; he sets out to prove how it is salvific. And he does so in a calm, reasoned voice, unafraid to bring awareness to modern day critical scholarship yet remaining true to the fundamentals of the Gospel message. The book is brief and is an easy read with Wright's concise and powerful prose.

His descriptions of salvation, the kingdom of God, the mission of Jesus and, especially relevant to me coming from a Oneness Pentecostal background, the power and the mystery of the Trinity, resonated more deeply than I was prepared to experience. I almost cried. It literally recharged my wavering faith with a new sense of vigor. Not only is Christianity relevant in today's world, it is essential.

If you are looking for a refresher in why it is you remain a Christian or if you are, like me, tired of the excesses passing for Christianity today or are just looking for a soothing discussion to remind you of what you already know, I cannot recommend this book enough. I haven't been so moved by a book in a long time.

118 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why "Simply Christian" is a "must read", April 1, 2006

By 

William H. Panning (Prospect, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (Hardcover)

It presents a compelling case for Christianity without attempting to bully the reader (as C. S. Lewis often does in his essays) and without relying on all those "code words" that long-time Christians find familiar but others do not. This is the Gospel in plan English. Bravo!

It firmly insists that Christianity makes claims about history - that Jesus lived, died, and rose again, and that this resurrection is the central event in the story of God's re-creation of our fallen world.

It insists that Christians be active participants in the future unfolding of God's plan. We are each called to play a unique role in it.

It insists that there is a transcendent realm, another world, that can and does intersect or overlap with our own world, especially in sacraments, in worship, in Bible reading, and in prayer. Moreover, just as the temple was, for Jews in Jesus time, a place where heaven and earth overlapped, now we, as individual Christians, are called to be such places of overlap, where the light of Jesus shines through us.

It highlights the crucial importance of forgiveness. Just as God has forgiven us our sins, so are we to forgive others. The Lord's prayer is explicit on this point.

Becoming a Christian, Wright asserts, is not a matter or accepting certain improbable factual assertions, but rather a matter of trusting in God and accepting our role in unfolding his plan for the world.

Rather than being dissected, as in a laboratory, or treated merely as an instrument of historical or linguistic research, the Bible is in fact one of the principal ways in which God addresses us, to prepare us for our role in fulfilling his ultimate plans. It is another place where this world and God's world overlap. Current debates over "literal" versus "metaphorical" ways of reading scripture are, in Wright's view, counterproductive. The Bible eludes these simplistic categories, which should be abandoned.

At its core, then, the "faith" to which the Bible calls us is essentially trusting in a God who has revealed himself in history, who has begun, through Jesus' death and resurrection, to redeem the world and transform it into his kingdom, who invites us into to an intimate relationship with him, who demands that we become all that we were created and meant to be, who forgives us when we fall short of that mark, and who invites us to play a significant role in moving forward his plan for the world. For Wright, Christian faith is not just a matter of spiritual feelings that are quite independent of what we say and do. It makes demands upon us that can only be met in the realm of thought and behavior.

As C. S. Lewis did in his fiction, "Simply Christian" persuasively invites its readers to recognize that there is a transcendent reality that impinges on our ordinary world, that the God who rules this realm has made himself known in history and continues to do so, that we are part of his plan to renew his creation, and, consequently, that what we think and do has cosmic significance.

166 of 188 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars N.T. Wright is the man! The Wright stuff., March 20, 2006

By 

Scott Jones "Jungle Party 2000" (Belmont Shore, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (Hardcover)

Simply Christian is SIMPLY AMAZING. This book is a great gem for both the Christian and non- Christian.

Why do people long for justice?
Why do we thirst for spirituality?
Why do we long for relationships?
Why does beauty not satisfy us fully?

It is because we are humans that are made for and by God.
We are children that groan for our Father.
These are few of the questions the Bishop begins to address.
These are the questions that strike a chord within all humanity. Questions that we can't explain or escape outside of God.
N.T. Wright takes the reader on a journey through the story of the bible.
Along the journey the reader will encounter God, Jesus, the Spirit, and Israel.

At the end, Tom looks at what a life under the Lordship of Jesus could look like if somebody is willing to join in on the story, to be Jesus for a world that has no hope in sight.

No other scholar has the gift to communicate so beautifully and clearly the truth about Christianty. He captured me with his introduction and I hope the same happens to you.