N.T. Wright\u2019s new book, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense<\/em>, is Tom\u2019s adventure into a new kind of apologetic \u2014 not by way of disproving but by way of expounding three dimensions of the Christian faith: the inner echoes of a voice in our heart of hearts, the basics of the Story of the Bible, and then a survey of the basics of Christian living. In the next three days I\u2019ll look at each section. N.T. Wright\u2019s new book, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, is Tom\u2019s adventure into a new kind of apologetic \u2014 not by way of disproving but by way of expounding three dimensions of the Christian faith: the inner echoes of a voice in our heart of hearts, the basics of the Story of the Bible, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThere are two basic images in this book, one of which is up front and center and the other nearly taking over the book (from the middle to the end). The first is the \u201cechoes of a voice\u201d and the other is the \u201coverlap of heaven and earth\u201d in the central symbols of the Christian faith. The latter is not given a separable section but it is present much of the time, while the former is the theme of the first four chapters. Another serious theme that crops up often once it is set in motion, which I\u2019ll get to soon, is the Three Options: panetheism, deism, and Christian theism (where heaven and earth overlap).
\nWright thinks there are four dimensions of our life, dimensions each of us knows if we will but stop to reflect for a moment, that are essentially \u201cechoes of a voice\u201d \u2014 signs, as it were, of God\u2019s presence and of God\u2019s universal care of us and our world.
\nFirst, justice. \u201cIsn\u2019t it strange that we should all want things to be put to rights but can\u2019t seem to do it? And isn\u2019t the oddest thing of all the fact that I, myself, now what I ought to do but often don\u2019t do it?\u201d (8).
\nSecond, spirituality, which he calls the \u201chidden spring.\u201d And he tells a wonderful story (an inconsistent feature of this book) about a spring that was cemented over and finally just erupted and ruined everything \u2014 and he uses this as a wondrous image of the human yearning for spirituality in our world today.
\nThird, relationships \u2014 we were made for each other. A rather uneventful chapter for me, but good stuff \u2014 he deals with the human need for relationships and that we find meaning through relationships.
\nFourth, beauty. The beauty of the earth is an echo of the voice, but is not the voice itself. What we know is one part of a beautiful masterpiece.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"