This Christmas I received from my gracious parents a copy of N. T. Wright's The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus' Crucifixion (click here for the Amazon link). N. T. Wright is one of the most prolific and influential biblical scholars of the 21st century, and I have both immensely benefited from and strongly disagreed with his writings (indeed, I tell my seminary students that N. T. Wright is absolutely golden when dealing with the Resurrection, or skewering the Jesus Seminar, but much less helpful on Pauline theology. I identify much more strongly with the balanced views of Thomas Schreiner or Frank Thielman when it comes to the New Perspective, while also being appreciative of the work of Michael Bird).
In my opinion, Wright's masterful development of biblical theology is both his biggest strength and biggest weakness: on the one hand, he helps us see the "big picture" on so many theological concepts that we have neglected (i.e., we get so caught up in our Christian cliches such as "I'm going to spend eternity in heaven when I die" that we totally miss the point of biblical eschatology, namely Jesus Christ's victory over death and how we will be resurrected to spend eternity on the New Earth and the New Jerusalem; Wright is a healthy corrective to this). On the other hand, his own vision of biblical theology causes him to neglect key texts that don't quite fit with his big picture (in this regard, I especially recommend the excellent article by Josh Chatraw, "Balancing Out (W)right: Jesus' Theology of Individual and Corporate Repentance and Forgiveness in the Gospel of Luke," JETS 55.2 (2012), readable here.
I'm not totally sure what to expect with this book, but I anticipate an entertaining and provocative read. I'm hoping to approach this book from a more-or-less neutral position, an independent Baptist who appreciates much of broader scholarship, including Wright's work, while also disagreeing with some of it. In other words, I approach this book as neither a N. T. Wright "fanboy" nor a "N. T. Wright is Su-Per-Wrong" detractor. At the very least, I anticipate much quotable material that attempts to shake up the status quo of evangelical Christianity while being adamantly opposed to liberal theology!
