That would be Tom Wright’s latest. Check out the eclectic endorsements. The emergent/-ing guys really like NTW/the NPP (HT: Justin Taylor). Mike Bird loves it. No surprise there. It’s a little bizarre to see endorsement from Rob Bell and Brian McLaren. When I think of Pauline studies, I don’t think of Brian and Rob, at least not right away. Have they been doing serious work in Paul under pseudonyms?
What might surprise some is the rhetoric of the nice, sweet, gentle, pietist, emerging Scot McKnight who calls some of NTW’s critics “neo-Reformed” (I’m not sure what that’s about; is he suggesting that, were Calvin alive he would side with NTW) and “zealots.” I guess coffee, couches, and candles doesn’t do much to lower the ol’ BP. Perhaps Scot needs to step away from the Starbucks and try a little (communion) wine.
I wonder if any of these folk bothered to read Mike Horton’s Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ?
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January 6, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Todd Pedlar
Rob Bell’s comment is particularly telling… “I find it quite stunning that a book dealing with the subject of justification (gasp!) could be this compelling of a read” Unfortunately it’s not just the Rob Bells of the world who find the doctrine of justification not interesting enough a subject to devote time to studying…
January 6, 2009 at 3:11 pm
R. Scott Clark
Indeed. I find it stunning that anyone cares what Rob Bell thinks about NTW or justification.
January 6, 2009 at 1:15 pm
folknotions
The popularization of NT Wright’s eschatology is wide-spread among emerging folks. McLaren spends the better part of a chapter in his book “The Secret Message of Jesus” summing up much of NTW’s work on “the kingdom”. He also mentions that he is indebted to NT Wright in the appendix; at which time he also indicates that NT Wright’s theology (along with other contemporaries) have “gotten it” in a way that no one in the church has until now. A frighteningly naive appeal to novelty, if you ask me.
You can read my review on McLaren’s book here.
January 6, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Zrim
Scott, you’re forgetting that Bell is the heir to Billy Graham, according to the Chicago Sun Times/TIME Magazine. Aren’t the endorsements of circuit-riders, like, money in the bank?
But the only scraments I take when strolling the Grandville Mall are a coke and cookie.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1692051,00.html
January 6, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Steven Carr
Disgusting…that’s the only word that came to my head when I read the endorsements. Brian McLaren’s really irked me. What a @#%$#@$% snob he is.
January 7, 2009 at 8:36 am
Josh Gelatt
I also found the wording of McKnight’s endorsement troubling. Bell and McClaren so far off in left field their comments are expected. But I was distressed to see McKnight so blatantly use such divisive rhetorical tactics. He has created a stawman to publicly flog. Anyone disagreeing with Wright and siding with the Reformers is now a “zealot” who cares less about the bible and more about tradition. It seems, judging by McKnight’s comment alone, that the only people who really love the bible are those who agree with Wright. As an avid Calvinist, I might strongly disagree with Arminians (and have even claimed their interpretation of Scripture is poor), but I have never indicated they love scripture less than I do. McKnight’s comments were shocking, and telling.
Perhaps we should play the same game: “Anyone agreeing with Wright obviously loves culture more than scripture.” But, enough of these childish games.
With that said, I would like to remind Steven (in brotherly love) to make sure his comments, and even his criticism, are offered in a manner pleasing to God and worthy of one remade in the image of Christ.
January 7, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Nicholas T. Batzig
I wonder if Bell actually read the book. Its not like Rob Bell jumps into my mind, as an accurate representation, when I think of scholastic theologians with which I disagree.
January 7, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Nicholas T. Batzig
For what its worth, I am sure that Leithart has actually read it.
January 8, 2009 at 2:44 pm
AJM
I like how Leithart camps on Wright’s reminder of “breadth of the Gospel of God”, but avoids mentioning anything about its accomplished and final sufficiency.
March 15, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Scot McKnight and the “Neo-Reformed” « Heidelblog
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