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A review by mattfrye
Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters by N.T. Wright
2.0
I did not enjoy this book for a large variety of reasons, both literary and theological.
Throughout the book, the pace is really slow, and I believe that this book could be cut down to half of its size, and yet, retain all of the details that Wright wanted to address. This book was painstakingly redundant, especially with the themes of the Exodus. These themes are important, but you do not have to remind the reader of them after every few sentences! Also, I was frustrated with the presentation of the ideas. Wright starts off the book with addressing one point, but as you end the chapter, he stops, and says before he goes any further, he needs to address another point, and that we would soon finish the aforementioned idea. This set up is a decent transition, but should only be used once, and not consistently. By the time we got back to the main point, there were only three chapters left in the book, Jesus cannot simply fit neatly into 200+ pages. Similarly, the book tries to tackle too many questions, all-the-while trying to stay coherent. Every sub-point to be addressed was ended in a similar fashion, and after ten sub-points, the method gets old. Never does the author just want to come out and state his point, rather, he takes the long way around the barn to state anything, and that trip around the barn is filled with the same redundancy. My last issue is that Wright does not seem to stay focused on one audience. I would not know who to recommend this book to. Not an agnostic, despite the occasional rants aimed at disbelief. Especially not an early Christian, as they would end up more confused than anything. I suppose maybe a mature Christian, as they would be firm in their beliefs and be able to take and make a decision about accepting Wright's ideas, but even then, he covers extensively some beginning theology.
Now on to the theological aspect. As you read, if becomes clear that Wright holds an postmillennialist view concerning future events. I do not uphold this view, and believe it to be very erroneous. This is probably where most of my complaint lies, in conflicting theologies, which may not be a discussion for here. Another thing that bothered me was that when stating some Scripture or other prophetic dispositions, he did so in a derogatory way. What is arrogant about believing in the Rapture? The biggest thing problem that I had was how Wright presented Jesus. True, Jesus did come to bring forth the Kingdom of God (which is both established in his believers, and which will manifest physically in the future). But this is the only point that Wright dwells on. He critically downplays Jesus's compassion and love for others, and that he came to rescue us from Hell and save us for relationship with himself. These three points, according to Wright, are just byproducts of bringing God's kingdom, rather than being reasons why Jesus came. He also basically ignored Israel's part in the whole scheme of things. His viewpoint is deeply flawed, as it disregards textual context of Scripture, and basically denounces other parts of the Bible. Also, he quotes scripture that is not even canonical, or approved to be in the Bible, and gives tales of a Russian story of a guy experiencing a transfiguration similar to that of Jesus as support for one of his main points!
I gave this book a little bit of a generous rating, as I was able to pull and refine a few points that were made. But even these were not totally new to me, but were views that I already held, but explained in a different way, allowing me to see them from a different dynamic. The book also offers good historical thought of the ancient Jewish world. But that is about it. Read this text with caution, and do not subscribe to Wrights flawed views.
I would never read this book again.
Throughout the book, the pace is really slow, and I believe that this book could be cut down to half of its size, and yet, retain all of the details that Wright wanted to address. This book was painstakingly redundant, especially with the themes of the Exodus. These themes are important, but you do not have to remind the reader of them after every few sentences! Also, I was frustrated with the presentation of the ideas. Wright starts off the book with addressing one point, but as you end the chapter, he stops, and says before he goes any further, he needs to address another point, and that we would soon finish the aforementioned idea. This set up is a decent transition, but should only be used once, and not consistently. By the time we got back to the main point, there were only three chapters left in the book, Jesus cannot simply fit neatly into 200+ pages. Similarly, the book tries to tackle too many questions, all-the-while trying to stay coherent. Every sub-point to be addressed was ended in a similar fashion, and after ten sub-points, the method gets old. Never does the author just want to come out and state his point, rather, he takes the long way around the barn to state anything, and that trip around the barn is filled with the same redundancy. My last issue is that Wright does not seem to stay focused on one audience. I would not know who to recommend this book to. Not an agnostic, despite the occasional rants aimed at disbelief. Especially not an early Christian, as they would end up more confused than anything. I suppose maybe a mature Christian, as they would be firm in their beliefs and be able to take and make a decision about accepting Wright's ideas, but even then, he covers extensively some beginning theology.
Now on to the theological aspect. As you read, if becomes clear that Wright holds an postmillennialist view concerning future events. I do not uphold this view, and believe it to be very erroneous. This is probably where most of my complaint lies, in conflicting theologies, which may not be a discussion for here. Another thing that bothered me was that when stating some Scripture or other prophetic dispositions, he did so in a derogatory way. What is arrogant about believing in the Rapture? The biggest thing problem that I had was how Wright presented Jesus. True, Jesus did come to bring forth the Kingdom of God (which is both established in his believers, and which will manifest physically in the future). But this is the only point that Wright dwells on. He critically downplays Jesus's compassion and love for others, and that he came to rescue us from Hell and save us for relationship with himself. These three points, according to Wright, are just byproducts of bringing God's kingdom, rather than being reasons why Jesus came. He also basically ignored Israel's part in the whole scheme of things. His viewpoint is deeply flawed, as it disregards textual context of Scripture, and basically denounces other parts of the Bible. Also, he quotes scripture that is not even canonical, or approved to be in the Bible, and gives tales of a Russian story of a guy experiencing a transfiguration similar to that of Jesus as support for one of his main points!
I gave this book a little bit of a generous rating, as I was able to pull and refine a few points that were made. But even these were not totally new to me, but were views that I already held, but explained in a different way, allowing me to see them from a different dynamic. The book also offers good historical thought of the ancient Jewish world. But that is about it. Read this text with caution, and do not subscribe to Wrights flawed views.
I would never read this book again.