History and Eschatology

As usual with Wright, he has provocative things to say and I noted many of them with appreciation. He certainly enlarges perspective.

As to this book, a couple of comments. It is a compilation/result of a lecture series (The Gifford Lectures) so the book is highly contextualized as a result. It is about “Natural Theology” and I felt like I was entering into a conversation mid-stream that was dealing with ideas to which I was not privy, and I was looking up a lot of things midstream - disrupting the flow of the book. Wright is also verbose, it feels like he likes the sound of his pen too much. It also felt like he got caught up name dropping, quoting from theologians and expecting you to know the quote/context/argument without looking it up or being reminded of it. I know this is part of the process, in order to critique something, you have to engage in the ongoing conversation, I found I wasn't up for it and wanted him to make his point.

David Ferguson comments on the back cover: “An impressive and timely publication...Bold, lively and accessible, it will generate widespread discussion.” I didn't find it accessible. I am a pretty savvy reader of theology with an MDiv., and I found it cumbersome at times. I think it is worth reading, but make sure you are sitting at a desk and taking notes. The book could have been laid out better as well to help the reader, with headings and a bit of outlining.

I want to say that what he says in this book is available in more accessible formats in some of his other writing - but am not aware of which would be appropriate. He deals with the resurrection quite a bit, so maybe “Surprised by Hope” (but it has been at least a decade since I read that) or his more recent work on the crucifixion “The Day the Revolution Began” but I haven't read that.