N.T. Wright, a prominent scholar and theologian, has had a profound impact on twenty-first century Christianity with his rigorous scholarship and accessible writing. As a leading voice in New Testament studies and the former Bishop of Durham, Wright has challenged and enriched our understanding of the historical Jesus, the resurrection, and the role of the Church in the modern world. His works, including the popular "For Everyone" series and groundbreaking academic texts, have not only demystified complex theological issues but also revived interest in biblical narratives and their implications for Christian life. This article explores Wright's significant contributions to theology and how his insights have shaped modern Christian thought and practice.
N.T. Wright: Table of Contents
What Is N.T. Wright Known For?
Wright is best known for his scholarship on the Apostle Paul, his theological work on Jesus’s Resurrection, and his studies of ancient Judaism. He has critiqued Gnosticism, popular rapture theology, the “new atheism” popularized by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, and the Enlightenment’s influence on Western life. The Enlightenment affected academia, politics, economics, the media, and everyday life. One of its negative effects was separating faith and reason as mutually exclusive—leading to things like the Thomas Jefferson Bible, which kept all of Jesus’ moral teachings without Jesus’ claims of divinity and miracles.
How Has N.T. Wright Advanced Christian Scholarship?
Wright’s scholarship on the resurrection has particularly aided readers to consider how a first-century Jew would have viewed Jesus’ claims about himself and His Resurrection. The first-century historical context is immensely important because Jesus of Nazareth was a first-century Jew who saw Himself as the fulfillment of the Torah.
Jesus’ Messianic movement was not about overthrowing the Romans with violence and restoring the temple but about being the suffering servant who gave His life as a ransom for the whole world.
Wright’s work on the historical Jesus of Nazareth, affirming His resurrection, has been immensely important. The work is especially vital when compared to scholars like Bart Ehrman, Robert Funk, and various members of the Jesus Seminar—all scholars who have tried to develop a historical Jesus divorced from biblical truth.
For example, Ehrman is a New Testament scholar and professor at UNC Chapel Hill. He concedes that Jesus existed but rejects all claims to Jesus’ divinity and resurrection. According to Ehrman, the writers of the synoptic gospels fabricated these claims. Wright has disagreed strongly with Ehrman’s view on the resurrection, and both have had cordial debates about their different views.
What Does N.T. Wright Believe about the Resurrection?
Wright argues that after considering all the different theories trying to explain away Jesus’ Resurrection, the one that makes the most sense is that it did happen and came as a surprise to all His followers who thought Jesus was just another failed Messiah. However, Wright makes an important point: historical argument can only take one so far. You can give good historical reasons for why you believe in Jesus’s Resurrection, but you can’t prove it. That is where faith comes in. People of all worldviews have faith, even though some try to write faith off as childish wishful thinking.
According to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John’s first-century accounts, Mary Magdalene, Jesus’s mother, and Joanna were the first witnesses of the Risen Christ. According to Wright, this is quite shocking for a first-century document—at the time, a woman’s voice wasn’t even valid in a court of law. This fact is appalling, but in context, it makes us see that the writers weren’t trying to write a convincing false narrative. No one in the first century would be foolish enough to argue a miracle happened based on the fact women saw it happen . . . unless that was what really happened.
Wright has also noted how the synoptic gospels’ claim that Jesus’ physical body was resurrected would shock first-century readers—a detail no con artist would include. The resurrection means that physical matter can be renewed, that it has value—something that many ancient thinkers refused to believe. For example, the gnostic gospels found in an Egyptian cave in 1945 fit a dualistic view where humans become enlightened when they escape the material world. Gnostic dualism argues that all matter is evil, whereas Christianity maintains God created a good world. Though this world is fallen, things like matter, nature, love, art, and all good things are sacramental and can be made new through Christ’s agape love.
What Are N.T. Wright’s Main Theological Themes?
One of the most important themes in Wright’s writings is his emphasis on new creation because of Jesus’ Resurrection in the first century. This new creation is possible because the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled about the coming Messiah, death has been defeated, and redemption is possible in the here and now. As John wrote in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
We partake in the new creation in various ways. Through great acts of compassion and justice, through the sacraments, through the love, beauty, and goodness reflected through music, literature, and art, we humans living in time and space get glimpses of the new creation. The glimpses show us the marriage of heaven that is beginning to unveil itself.
Hope is another important theological theme in the writings of Wright. To a Christian, hope is not a delusion or wishful thinking. Hope comes from belief in the risen Christ, who is the same today, yesterday, and forever. In this context, there would be nothing to hope for in the present or future if Christ did not rise from the dead. This theological virtue of hope has allowed Christians to build hospitals and perform amazing acts of compassion and justice. It has motivated them to fight against slavery, genocide, and racism. It has inspired artists to create music, literature, and art that has changed millions of lives.
The Eucharist also plays a key role in Wright’s works. He argues that when people partook in the bread and wine in the early church, it was not just an act of remembrance but a spiritually transformative experience that drew people closer to Christ. The liturgical traditions in Christianity still practice this tradition established by Jesus at the Last Supper. The Eucharist is a proclamation that Jesus is King and victorious over Satan and the powers of darkness.
10 Best N.T. Wright Quotes
- "Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven."
- "The point of Christianity is not to go to heaven when you die, it’s to bring heaven to earth now."
- "You become like what you worship."
- "Forgiveness is the way through which what's broken can be fixed, what's polluted can be cleansed, what's ugly can be beautified."
- "The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world. It is public truth."
- "History, including biblical history, is complex; certainty is a rare luxury; humility is therefore a good posture for us to adopt."
- "God is not remote; he is ‘up close and personal’ at every point in our lives."
- "Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible."
- "The Christian vocation is to be in prayer, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain."
- "Love is not a 'duty', even less a 'heroic duty'. It's the natural response of the human heart to the divine love with which it has come in contact."
10 Inspiring Books by N.T. Wright
2. Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
3. The Resurrection of the Son of God
4. Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, And Why He Matters
6. The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential
7. Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues
8. God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath
9. Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today
10. Evil and the Justice of God
Photo Credit: Flickr/michael kooiman
Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in 2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired.
Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
How Did the Apostle Paul Die?
Who are the Nicolaitans in Revelation?
Who Was Deborah in the Bible?
Who Was Moses in the Bible?
King Solomon's Story in the Bible
Who Was Lot's Wife in the Bible?
Who Was Jezebel in the Bible?
Who Was the Prodigal Son?
