Some Interesting Wright Quotes
My Internet friend, RTS student and blogger Stephen Wedgeworth, has posted a couple of fascinating quotations from N. T. Wright’s article in the recent volume Justification in Perspective: Historical Developments and Contemporary Challenges.
The first has to do with how he arrived at conclusions similar to those now associated with the so called New Perspectives on Paul long before he had read the works of Sanders and Dunn through an exegetical crisis. He could not in integrity reconcile Paul’s seemingly contradictory takes on the Law in Romans and Galatians by means of either the predominant Lutheran or Calvinist explanations. In an audio talk I once heard him describe how he holed up in his study for months with the relevant passages (in Greek) on 3×5 cards tacked to a bulletin board and arranged in traditional categories. One day while staring at them, the whole house of cards came tumbling down, and he knew he had to start with a “fresh perspective.” Thus, at least if Wright’s own testimony is to be believed, his theological journey began not driven by concerns of Second Temple Judaism but from exegetical concerns.
In the second quote linked above, Wright states the humility with which he has tried to undertake such a momentous quest, especially in the face of mounting and often unfair criticism. He asks his critics to
“…recognize that some of us at least are brothers in Christ who have come to the positions we hold not because of some liberal, modernist, or relativist agenda but as a result of prayerful and humble study of the text which is and remains our sole authority. Of course, prayer and humility before the text do not guarantee exegetical success. We all remain deeply flawed at all levels. But this is precisely my point. If I am simul justus et peccator, the church, not least the church as the Scripture-reading community, must be ecclesia catholica semper reformanda. Like Calvin, we must claim the right to stand critically within a tradition. To deny either of these would be to take a large step toward precisely the kind of triumphalism against which the Reformers themselves would severely warn us.”
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January 29th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
I appreciate N.T. Wright, but when he speaks like this, it seems to me like Al Gore’s claim to have “invented” the internet. It bespeaks a hyper-protestant view of tradition (ironic coming from an Anglican bishop), as if he constructed a whole new view of Paul all by himself. Yes, always keep reforming, but we can’t neglect what the Holy Spirit has taught the church for 2000 years. But in reality, I don’t think the “new” perspective is as new as either its proponents or detractors think.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
jonathan- I don’t think what Wright is saying is that he came up with these ideas himself for the first time. Just that he came up with them for himself from his own study. I think his whole point is to discover what Paul is actually saying and what his initial readers would have understood him to be saying, which in and of itself would not allow for Wright’s understanding of Paul to be original.
February 6th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Jonathan: Point of clarification. Al Gore never claimed to invent the internet. That’s a Republican talking point that has no basis in fact. Wright is right that we should stand critically within a tradition. The issue, of course, is if his perspective on Paul is supported by scripture. On that issue, we can disagree.