{"id":6755,"date":"2010-03-10T01:44:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T06:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/"},"modified":"2010-03-10T01:44:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T06:44:01","slug":"after-you-believe-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/","title":{"rendered":"After You Believe 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"NTWright.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright\u2019s new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
How do we combine the grace of God with the efforts of humans to grow in that grace? Are the \u201cspiritual disciplines\u201d efforts in grace-growing?<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For readers of Dallas Willard\u2019s book, one of the major ideas in Tom Wright\u2019s newest book will be familiar: we get from where we are to transformed character through the steps that Aristotle outlined long ago:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Aristotle taught that character was formed when one had a goal, determined the steps to get to that goal, and third you learn to make those steps habits. The steps in the process were called \u201cthe virtues\u201d (courage, justice, prudence, temperance).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Jesus and Paul were both within this set of categories and at the same quite different. That\u2019s the aim of Wright\u2019s new book.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So Wright: \u201cI think if we\u2019d asked St. Paul what he thought about Aristotle and his scheme of the virtues, he would have said about it roughly what he said about the Jewish law: it is fine up to a point and as far as it goes, but it can\u2019t actually give what it promises. It\u2019s like a signpost pointing in more or less the right direction (though it will need some adjustment), but without a road that actually goes there\u201d (36).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
So, for Wright, the transformation of character is about what he calls a \u201ccomplex effort\u201d (41).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wright, and this must be emphasized, does not discount grace one bit. He has a good section emphasizing the need for grace and the swarming presence of grace and adds this: \u201cit didn\u2019t mean that they could shrug their shoulders and give up the moral struggle altogether\u201d (61). So\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cgrace, which meets us where we are but is not content to let us remain where we are, followed by direction and guidance to enable us to acquire the right habits to replace the wrong ones\u201d (63).<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright\u2019s new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters . How do we combine the grace of God with the efforts of humans to grow in that grace? Are the \u201cspiritual disciplines\u201d efforts in grace-growing? For readers of Dallas Willard\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter You Believe 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After You Believe 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/assets_c\/2009\/05\/NTWright-thumb-275x329-4737.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/\",\"name\":\"After You Believe 2\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"After You Believe 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"After You Believe 2","description":"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"After You Believe 2","og_description":"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/assets_c\/2009\/05\/NTWright-thumb-275x329-4737.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/","name":"After You Believe 2","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00","dateModified":"2010-03-10T06:44:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"The question, what do you do after you believe, is the subject of Tom Wright's new book: After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters .How do we","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/03\/10\/after-you-believe-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"After You Believe 2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}