Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

Newsweek recently interviewed Anglican bishop N.T. Wright. Whether or not you have an opinion on our brother from the U.K., one thing is clear in Wright’s work: he does his work with a pastor’s heart.

A few quotes from the Newsweek interview stand out, especially since Wright spends much of his time speaking to people who would call themselves Christians (as, I suspect, many of us do too).

As you read on, note how Wright’s view of the resurrection sees it as literal, historical, relevant, and comprehensive to every aspect of life. Such a view can transform and inspire ministry. May it do so more and more in each of ours!

The full interview (well worth the read if you’re into this kind of thing) can be accessed here.

NEWSWEEK: When you talk about the resurrection, are you telling people something they haven't heard before?

N. T. Wright: Usually, yes. People have been told so often that resurrection is just a metaphor, and means Jesus died and was glorified—in other words, he went to heaven, whatever that means. And they've never realized that the word resurrection simply didn't mean that. If people [in the first century] had wanted to say he died and went to heaven, they had perfectly good ways of saying that.

What does the resurrected body look like?
The analogy that I use is this: if you are with somebody who is very sick, you say, "Poor old so-and-so, he's just a shadow of his former self." He's still recognizable as the same person. Who we are at the moment is just a shadow of our future selves. There's a real you, a real me, which will one day be there and we'll say, "My goodness, you're looking well." There's a sense of "like but more than."

How do you reconcile your orthodox theology with your progressive politics?
…The resurrection gives you a sense of what God wants to do for the whole world, and it gives the church the courage to say, "God's new world has actually begun already." The church can then say to the powers that be, whether it's George W. Bush or Gordon Brown or the United Nations, "We are urging you to do justice, and we're going to hold your feet to the fire and go on reminding you when you're getting it wrong and congratulating you when you're getting it right."

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Chris Blumhofer is associate editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com.