Status
Call number
Collection
Pages
Publication
Description
Why do we expect justice? Why do we crave spirituality? Why are we attracted to beauty? Why are relationships often so painful? And how will the world be made right? These are not simply perennial questions all generations must struggle with, but, according to N. T. Wright, are the very echoes of a voice we dimly perceive but deeply long to hear. In fact, these questions take us to the heart of who God is and what He wants from us. For two thousand years, Christianity has claimed to solve these mysteries, and this renowned biblical scholar and Anglican bishop shows that it still can today. Not since C. S. Lewis's classic summary of the faith, Mere Christianity, has such a wise and thorough scholar taken the time to explain to anyone who wants to know what Christianity really is and how it is practiced. Wright makes the case for Christian faith from the ground up, assuming that the reader has no knowledge of (and perhaps even some aversion to) religion in general and Christianity in particular. Simply Christian walks the reader through the Christian faith step by step and question by question. With simple yet exciting and accessible prose, Wright challenges skeptics by offering explanations for even the toughest doubt-filled dilemmas, leaving believers with a reason for renewed faith. For anyone who wants to travel beyond the controversies that can obscure what the Christian faith really stands for, this simple book is the perfect vehicle for that journey.… (more)
User reviews
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
I enjoyed Wright's apologetic, although a committed neo-Darwinist atheist would be unpersuaded, I think. The part that was most persuasive, for me personally, was that every society and people group has an idea of justice-- there are wrongs and rights, and everyone has a universal desire to see the wrongs righted. That indicates that we lost something somewhere in the annals of human history, we are all crying out for redemption and justice.
I appreciated Wright's emphasis on the importance of Scripture in the center of our worship-- corporate reading of Scripture is part of Jewish tradition, is prescribed in the New Testament (1 Timothy 4) and is not often done by churches anymore.
Wright walks the reader through God's redemptive story, from creation to the Exodus, to Jesus. It's a brief overview of biblical theology for the non-believer. Wright's politics creep in occasionally, his assumptions of pacifism and international debt forgiveness, for example. But he does not strike me as a liberal heretic.
I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I enjoy checking out some of Wright's "deeper" works.