30 Days (XXIII)

A Picture of Your Favorite Book

No surprise my current favorite book is by N.T. Wright. "What St. Paul Really Said" is remarkable by all accounts. Wright does an excellent job at showing how the very word "gospel" in Hebrew and pagan contexts comes together into a theopolitical message about YHWH, the God of Israel, who is King of the World as opposed to Caesar. Many of the churchy terms we Christians like to throw around in everyday speech--"the gospel," "the kingdom of God," "salvation," "peace on earth," "justification," even "faith", amongst others--are Greek words that Christians incorporated into their understanding of Messiah and what he did, bearing well in mind that the words themselves were political in nature. It's no small wonder that the early Christians were often accused of being subversive to the Empire. All that is just in the beginning of this small book; Wright also touches on his understanding of "justification" (it's more of an introduction than anything; he goes head-on with the topic in his book creatively-titled "Justification"). The final chapters have to do with Paul's message to the Jews contrasted with his message to the pagans. Overall it's a great book with a great many topics, giving an introduction of sorts to Wright's understanding of Pauline studies.