Adam Shields

Takeaway: I do not know any book that takes the reading, study and importance of scripture more seriously than this book.

I am a fan of NT Wright.  Primarily because I so strongly appreciate his pastoral heart for the church and his desire to serve the church.  He can be a controversial figure, in part because of that pastoral heart.  He created another dust up last week because of an editorial about the US and Osama bin Laden.  And I have heard more than a few people complain that Wright needs to focus on scripture, where he has few peers and leave all other areas of social involvement alone.

However, the entire point of much of Wright’s writing and speaking is to help people put into practice the living of their lives as Christians. You may disagree with him over politics or theology, but it is clear that his positions are based on his understanding of scripture and he thinks and acts deeply based not on political maneuvers, but on his understanding of scripture.

Scripture and The Authority of God is a reworking of a 2005 book, The Last Word and I think is the most accessible and best book of Wright’s that I have read.

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Summary: The Emergent (or old school liberal) stream of Christianity has a real faith, and something to teach Evangelicals.

A long time ago and in a far away place, I decided to go to seminary.  I never wanted to be a pastor.  But at the time, I thought I wanted to be a social worker or at least work in a church based social service program.

So I decided to get a dual masters in Social Work and Divinity.  There are several places you could do that at the time.  I could have stayed in my denomination of origin (American Baptist) and gone to Eastern Seminary (but then would have gone to a different school for the social work.)  I could have go to Southern Seminary where my father went to seminary.

What I decided to do was go to the University of Chicago Divinity School and School of Social Work.  I very intentionally decided to go to U of C because I had an undergrad degree from Wheaton College.  I had experienced one of the best Evangelical colleges in the country, I had a very good background in theology and I am from a long line of pastors and was quite comfortable in my faith.  I wanted to challenge my Evangelical background and be in the minority for a while.

University of Chicago was overwhelmingly Christian, mostly Protestant, but of a liberal bent.  Marcus Borg would be very comfortable with many of my professors at U of C Div School.  I loved my time at the Div School.  It is one of the few places that I have very clearly claimed the label Evangelical.  Being among a different stream of Christianity both expanded my view of the Church and made me more comfortable in my part of the Church.

So for quite a while I have been very intentionally trying to understand what other Christians believe, how they think and how they explain their faith.  The Heart of Christianity is an attempt by Borg to explain his faith.  In format it is very traditional.  He starts with his understanding of scripture, and works through God, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sin, Heaven, Salvation, Spiritual Practice and Pluralism.  Essentially he is doing what he doing an Emergent (his word) version of systematic theology.

What I really appreciate about this book is that he makes it very clear that liberal Christians have real faith.  It is not just some type of wishy-washy universalism that has gotten rid of any belief or theological content.  His belief is not the same as most Evangelicals (although in many more areas than most Evangelicals are comfortable with, there will be a good bit of agreement).

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