I’m way behind in my reading, so I haven’t done any book reviews in a while. I have been remiss, however, in not mentioning a book that I used this past semester at ACU: Simply Christian by N.T. Wright. It’s an attempt to present some extremely deep theology in simple terms. I was fooled by the easy-to-read style and pushed my students through the book at a fairly quick pace. It’s easy to read, but processing the ideas takes some time.

Wright points to four universal longings, four things present in all of humanity that he refers to as echoes of the divine. These are: longing for justice, longing for spirituality, longing for relationship and longing for beauty. Wright then uses these four themes throughout to tie together the biblical story (as fulfilled in Israel and as fulfilled in Christ) as well as our reaction to it.

Wright also spends time talking about the relationship between heaven and earth. He speaks of three options. The first option is seeing heaven and earth as being identical, as seen in pantheism and panentheism. The second option is to see heaven and earth as completely separate, view reflected in Epicureanism in the ancient world and Deism in the modern world. The third view, in Wright’s words, is that “Heaven and earth are not coterminous, in this option. Nor are they separated by a great gulf. Instead, they overlap and interlock in a number of different ways.” (Location 942 in the Kindle edition)

All of this theology doesn’t remain up in the air; Wright brings it to life in the last section of the book, describing how Christians are to live out the realities of the Kingdom. I can’t do justice to all of the material contained in this book, but I do want to recommend it highly. Just don’t be fooled, as I was. You may be able to read it quickly, but you’ll miss a lot by doing so. This is a book to be read and contemplated at a leisurely pace.