The Day the Revolution Began

Starred review from November 15, 2016

Scholar and prolific author Wright (New Testament & early Christianity; Sch. of Divinity, Univ. of St. Andrews; How God Became King) pens a thought-provoking book to "help ordinary Christians grasp, and be grasped by, the multifaceted glory of Jesus's cross." He investigates questions such as: "When the early Christians summarized their 'good news' by saying that 'the Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Bible, ' what precisely did they mean?" In answering such queries, Wright desires to help avoid "domesticating or distorting the cross" and controversially asserts that the goal of Christ's death was not to help us escape hell or go to heaven. Instead, he sees an overarching theme of exile and Passover restoration by the forgiveness of the sins that caused the exile. The cross thus established "the kingdom of God through the agency of Jesus" so that both Jewish and Gentile Christians may "share in the royal and priestly human work within both the present world and the world...to be." VERDICT This book is highly recommended for all libraries and will appeal to general readers interested in current theological thought.--Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2016
Called a theological conservative, Bishop Wright is hardly intransigent. He has constantly striven to further illuminate the meanings of the New Testament, refocusing attention on the Resurrection and the teachings of Paul, in particular. In one of his longest, most thoroughgoing nonacademic books, he delves into the Crucifixion and, surprising himself, he says, finds it the mainspring of the faith and the church. Jesus' gruesome and humiliating execution at the hands of the grossest earthly power of his time accomplished the forgiveness of all sin that the Resurrection confirmed by vanquishing death. It also began the kingdom of God, which believers realize by taking up the Cross and doing as Jesus didand not by doing good works in exchange for going to heaven when they die (Jesus announces no such works contract, as Wright calls it, and promises not a heavenly life after death but instead a new heaven and a new earth now). All of this occurs, Wright argues, in accordance with the Bible, and the bulk of this book is concerned with establishing that fact through close and sometimes corrected reading of what the Hebrew Bible says about the Messiah and what the New Testaments tells us of Jesus. Although demanding reading, Wright's bracing and thought-provoking exegesis should inform and encourage everyone concerned with Christianity's continuing vitality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)