N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God: An Exploration of the Meaning of Jesus' Death and Resurrection

T. CliftonT. Clifton: In Part 1 of this work, we are told that Wright’s intention “is to write about the historical beginnings of Christianity and about the question of god” (p.5). His focus for most of the book is on what the early Christians believed, primarily about Jesus. The question of life after death in general is fleshed out with a particular focus on what happened to Jesus after he was crucified. Wright begins his investigation by diving into all the possible beliefs that people in the ancient world held about what happens to a person after death.
In Part 2 Wright takes the reader through all of Paul’s writings in the New Testament in order to highlight the beliefs of Jesus’ earliest followers. Ultimately, “…the Christian life belonged within a historical narrative which began with Jesus’ resurrection and ended with the resurrection of all believers, and that the divine Spirit who accomplished the first would accomplish the second, and was even now at work to anticipate and guarantee the final event” (p.373).
Part 3 addresses the idea of resurrection in early Christianity. While the Gospels say little about the resurrection directly, there is still...

United States on Nov 06, 2023

Kindle Customer: N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God is an engaging and comprehensive historical exploration through which a compelling case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is constructed.

The structure of the book is innovative—Wright spends the first part on a substantial treatment of both ancient near eastern non-Jewish and Jewish views of life after death. The “pagan” view is illustrated both to provide a backdrop for the apostle Paul’s mission to the pagan world and to contest the supposed parallels between the New Testament resurrection accounts and pagan beliefs. Wright clearly demonstrates that the pagan view would have not have allowed any expectation of bodily resurrection, but shows that ancient Jewish beliefs were more complex—afterlife is often depicted in many passages of the Old Testament as a shadowy place of near nothingness, yet in others there seems to be a basis for Jewish hope, not only in the restoration of the nation of Israel, but in a possible personal bodily resurrection. Wright also provides a detailed treatment of the Jewish concept of “resurrection” into the second-Temple period and demonstrates that the first...

United States on Oct 27, 2023

Kalita Ono: Livro maravilhoso

Brazil on Sep 07, 2023

chula: Loved the book, though I felt it might be a bit less well structured than his previous two (NTPG, JVG). The physical quality of this edition, if I remember correctly, was also less good than the old one I'd borrowed for the other books. Pages whiter (harsher on my eyes), larger margins (unnecessarily so) and text not always so clearly printed.

United Kingdom on Apr 01, 2022

Daniel Rajasooriar: Why should we read the Easter narratives as actual events rather than a late rationalization of early Christian spirituality? Although the length of the book may be intimidating, Dr. N. T. Wright answers this question in a manner that is both scholarly and accessible. If you are interested in the subject matter, this is a valuable resource to add to your library.

In the first part of the book, Wright sets the scene. I enjoyed how he discusses different senses of history, such as “history as event,” “history as significant event,” “history as provable event,” “history as writings-about-events-in-the-past” or “history as speaking-about-events in the past,” and “history as what modern historians can say” (Wright, 2003, pp. 12-13). Wright mentions that what is at stake throughout much of the book is whether the resurrection of Jesus is historical in the first sense and proceeds to address six objections to such historical study of the resurrection of Jesus (pp. 14-28). He first addresses the objections that we have no access, no analogy, and no real evidence, as articulated by those who say that the relevant historical study of the...

Canada on Oct 14, 2020

Erastos Filos: What happened on Easter morning? N.T. Wright believes that this question – the central theme of the book – is closely related to the question of why Christianity began, and why it took the shape it did. His intention was to write about the historical beginnings of Christianity and about the question of God – not an easy undertaking, given the amount of historical and theological thinking that has been invested in researching this topic, this is perhaps why the book has turned out to be that voluminous (more than 800 pages). Its purpose, Wright contends, is determined by two sub-questions: what did the early Christians think happened to Jesus, and what can we today say about the plausibility of those beliefs?

Wright is well aware of the two hundred-year fight to keep history and theology at arm’s length. The resurrection accounts in the canonical gospels have almost routinely been treated by post-Enlightenment scholarship as mere back-projections of later Christian belief, with only shaky claims to historical veracity, he claims. This understanding of Jesus’ resurrection is still widely accepted in scholarship and many mainline churches:...

United Kingdom on Oct 13, 2020

Jason Wengel: The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T Wright is a thought provoking and insightful read that provides a cogent defense of Christ’s resurrection and the Christian worldview that ensued. Using his expertise in theological and historical studies, Wright upholds the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus with significant clarity and scholarship. He skillfully weaves together the historical understanding of resurrection for both second-Temple Judaism and the early Christian church as being corporeal, and establishes a robust case for how the empty tomb combined with the multiple attestations of the risen Christ all confirm that Jesus was truly raised from the dead.

It goes without saying that N.T Wright is qualified to write this book. He is a New Testament scholar, theologian and professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom. Additionally, Wright is a highly accomplished and prolific writer, the vast majority of his work focused on Christian theology including Pauline perspectives, and its application to the Christian life. Some of his most notable academic works include Paul and the...

Canada on Oct 20, 2018