Scot McKnight
N.T. Wright and Christopher Wright show the future of theology.
Recently I was asked where theology was headed. I assured my reader that I wasn't "in the know" but that I would hazard a guess or two. First I thought we were likely to see a more robust Trinitarian theology, one deeply anchored in the great Cappadocian theologians like Gregory of Nyssa. But in some ways all the main lines of Trinitarian thought have already been sketched by great theologians like Karl Barth, James B. Torrance and others. With this first idea now set aside, I had a second idea of where theology is going: "The Wright Brothers."
No, not those Wright Brothers, but another set of Wrights (who aren't even brothers, except in Christ): Tom and Chris. Even if they don't map where all of theology is headed, these two scholars and devoted churchmen, both Anglican, do set before us two words that have become increasingly fruitful and I think will be the subject of serious theological reflection in the future. The two words are "earth" and "mission." Each scholar discusses both, but I will focus in this post on Tom Wright's focus on "earth" and Chris Wright's focus on "mission."
Increasingly we are seeing more and more Christians own up to the earthly focus of biblical revelation-the claim God makes upon this earth through his Eikons (humans made in his image). We are seeing a deeper reflection on what it means to participate in the historical flow, in government and politics and society and culture, and we are seeing a renewed interest in vocation and work. One of the more striking elements of this new surge is that theologians who are deeply anchored in the Bible also see our eternal destiny having an earthly shape.
Not So Wright
I have read some of NT Wright & I'd have to say I smell a theological rat. As to Karl Barth, it might be good to have a look at history & why he & Francis Schaeffer were at loggerheads. The term Barthian Universalist didn't happen for no reason. I think the gnosticism lies, not in longing for Heaven, but in inventing other afterlife stories! Anybody who thinks we should have power on this Earth is believing another Gospel than the one Jesus preached. Christian beware of the new theology, it's really an old theology that's been around since some Desert Fathers spread some heresy.