The Bible and Culture

In dealing with pp. 880-92, we are dealing with one of the more revealing passages in this whole book, a passage which depends, again and again, on the notion that 'dikaiosune tou theou' literally the righteousness of God, refers to God's covenant faithfulness. We have had occasion to make clear some of the real problems with that whole idea, but here in dealing with materials in 2 Cor. 3-5 it becomes really evident that that dog just won't hunt. It does not make sense of texts like for … [Read more...]

Tom's exegesis on pp. 870ff. of Gal. 3.19-22, and it brings to light his reasoning about why Paul thought the Law seemed to have failed. Tom says it was no fault of the Law itself, the fault lay entirely in the sinfulness of Israel. He puts it this way "Torah offered life, it could not give it-- not through its own fault, but through the sinful human nature of Israel". But this is not entirely correct. Even the Law given to Adam could not give him everlasting life. That's why there was a tree … [Read more...]

In the wasteland that is American TV which has become, as Bruce Springsteen once said '57 channels and nothing on' (or words to that effect), it is difficult to find substantive TV series that involve: 1) issues that matter; 2) good acting; 3) top notch script writing, and 4) characters you care about. Without question, one of the best script and especially dialogue writers for TV is Emmy award winning (for West Wing) Aaron Sorkin. He can really turn a phrase, and quick too. You really have … [Read more...]

What follows in pp. 860ff. is an exposition of Galatians, an exposition which clarifies some things, and makes more of a puzzle of other things. First of all, Tom is absolutely right that the logic of the arguments in Gal. 3-4 is narratival in character more than anything else. Paul will connect the community of Christ back to Abraham and his covenant, and will stress that the role of Torah was temporary for the people of God. In other words, this is not basically argument about law vs. grace, … [Read more...]

It would be difficult, in a work so large, to pin point certain sections that were most crucial to understanding Tom's approach to Paul, but certainly one of them must be pp. 852-60, which are the subject of this post. Here Tom is dealing with the crucial proposition or thesis statement found in Gal. 2.11-21, or vss. 15-21 depending on whether you see the transitional comments about Peter in Antioch as part of the thesis statement or not. There is a definite coherency to Tom's argument here, … [Read more...]

A couple of years ago I wrote a book for Abingdon entitled A Shared Christian Life, deal with the issue of spiritual formation in a Wesleyan form. I stressed, as I will stress in this post, that the primary place most human beings are going to get spiritually formed is in the context of the congregation-- whether it be congregational worship, or the sharing of the Eucharist, or on retreat with a Bible study group, or a fellowship meal in church or in a home. Spiritual formation is not … [Read more...]

Tom is right to stress that the notion of pistis Christou is not a comment on Jesus' faith in God, his religious awareness or even his trust of God as opposed to his own good works, or anything of that sort. No, it has to do with the faithfulness of Christ to fulfill God's purpose for him, including dying on the cross. On p. 841 he has once more explained his understanding of the righteousness of God as having to do with: 1) the divine character rather than a status of righteousness imputed or … [Read more...]

As is mostly well known by now, in the pistis Christou debate, Tom Wright stands with Richard Hays in suggesting that this phrase should be seen as a subjective genitive clause-- talking about a pistis which Christ himself has or exercises. On pp. 836ff. he pauses to well on Rom. 3.22, in light of Rom. 3.2. Let me add quickly that on this issue, I think Hays got it right in the first place. I actually read his doctoral dissertation while he was writing it on Galatians in the late 70s, early 80s … [Read more...]

Easter means a lot of different things to different people, ranging from family reunions to big dinners to Easter egg hunts to down time from work, and none of those things in themselves are bad things. Easter however, at its most fundamental level is not about us, not about our celebrating ourselves and our families. It's about a once and future king, and a once and future event called resurrection.It is easy enough for ministers to preach even stem winding sermons about what happened to … [Read more...]