THE CHALLENGE OF JESUS

Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is

N. T. WRIGHT

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515

World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com

E-mail: email@ivpress.com

©1999 by N. T. Wright

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at <www.intervarsity.org>.

All Scripture quotations are the author’s translation unless otherwise noted.

Cover illustration: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.

ISBN-10: 0-8308-2200-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-2200-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wright, N. T. (Nicholas Thomas)

The challenge of Jesus: rediscovering who Jesus was & is / N.T. Wright.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-8308-2200-3 (cloth: alk. paper)

1. Jesus Christ—Historicity. 2. Christian life. I. Title.

BT303.2.W75 1999

232—dc21 99-36481

CIP

For Simon Kingston

Friend & publisher

Contents

Preface

1 The Challenge of Studying Jesus

2 The Challenge of the Kingdom

3 The Challenge of the Symbols

4 The Crucified Messiah

5 Jesus & God

6 The Challenge of Easter

7 Walking to Emmaus in a Postmodern World

8 The Light of the World

Index

Preface

On January 2, 1999 (my parents’ 52nd wedding anniversary, as it happens), Chicago had its worst snowstorm in over thirty years. All day the blizzard raged, shutting major highways and bringing suburban life to a near standstill. For the previous three days I had been able to see the lakeshore from my hotel window only two blocks away; now I could scarcely see the other side of the street.

That evening, as the snowplows struggled around the streets and the airline phones were jammed with callers transferring from canceled flights, I gave my fourth and final address at a remarkable conference. The first of its kind, it brought together under the auspices of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship over a thousand graduate students and university professors from all across North America, and some from beyond, under the twin title: “Following Christ/Shaping our World.” I was privileged to be able to lead some of the thinking with four lectures that now form the backbone of this book. I have tidied them up a little and developed or polished the argument here and there, but they remain quite close to what was said at the time. Several of those present urged me to make the material available in published form, and I am grateful to InterVarsity Press and SPCK for their ready cooperation. It is perhaps important ...