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Justification According to NT Wright Part One

Background

Posted Friday, February 15, 2008 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Theology  

N. T. Wright is a very important figure in the debate about justification going on today. While N. T. Wright may not be the founder of the New Perspective on Paul, he seems to be the one who has brought it to the church. I have many friends who have never heard of E. P. Sanders or James Dunn but who love N. T. Wright. He is one of those unique individuals who seem to be equally at home in academia as in the church. His series Christian Origins and the Question of God demonstrates his academic ability and the influence his work has had on a wide variety of scholars. But he also actually lives in the real world, as he is not only the active bishop of Durham but also has written a sizeable number of popular level works.1 This ability to write for a popular audience in clear terms has helped New Perspective on Paul views to spread to a much wider audience than they would have otherwise.2

Having said this, Wright dislikes being put into the broad “NPP” category and takes many opportunities to show how he differs from E. P. Sanders and James Dunn.3 He says he came to his view on his own before E. P. Sanders published his watershed work Paul and Palestinian Judaism in 1977.4 Wright began his justification journey because he was confused as to how to reconcile the anti-law view of Galatians with the pro-law view of Romans. One night he read Romans 10:3 in a new light, seeing the righteousness of God not as a moral issue but as an “ethnic status based on the performance of Torah,"5 and everything came together for him. He read the entirety of Galatians that night and his new outlook on righteousness helped him to understand it in a way that made sense to him.

This independent arrival at the New Perspective on Paul is important for Wright since it means that he is not simply following Sanders or Dunn, but came to his view through a study of the text.6 Wright desires to show that he is not being trendy or rejecting the Reformation, but is just doing what Luther or Calvin would have done, which is paying close attention to the text. He still views himself as a Reformed theologian, he is just “moving some of the labels around in obedience to Scripture”.7 This claim to be a consistent Reformed theologian has been challenged by several, however, who do not appreciate his moving around the labels on the theological shelf. While Wright has been skewered by the liberal side of the spectrum for his views on Jesus, he receives considerable more criticism from the conservative side for his view on Paul and justification.

1. Douglas Wilson comments about Wright that “one of the gentleman's strengths appears to be that he can write faster than I can read” (“N. T. Wright and All That,” Anvil 13.3, n. p. [cited February 8, 2008], Online: www.credenda.org/issues/13-3anvil.php).

2. Just for some examples of this widespread appeal, Wright’s What Saint Paul Really Said is ranked #11,572 (#1 in books on the theology of Paul) on Amazon.com, while James Dunn’s Theology of Apostle Paul is at #65,357. Wright’s bestselling book is Simply Christian, which is currently at #997 (cited 2-9-2008).

3. N. T. Wright, “New Perspectives on Paul,” in Justification in Perspective: Historical Developments and Contemporary Challenges, ed. Bruce L. McCormack (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 243-264, 246-248, “The Shape of Justification,” n. p. (cited February 11, 2008), online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Shape.html.

4. E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977).

5. Wright, “New Perspectives on Paul,” 245.

6. Wright, “New Perspectives on Paul,” 245.

7. Wright, “New Perspectives on Paul,” 263.

8. “The Shape of Justification,” n. p. (cited February 11, 2008), online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Shape.html.

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