The closer you get to the truth, the clearer becomes the beauty, and the more you will find worship welling up within you. That's why theology and worship belong together. N. T. Wright More Quotes by N. T. Wright More Quotes From N. T. Wright I have never been to India and I am not a specialist on Indian culture, and I would not wish to be heard to be taking swipes at a culture which I've never experienced and where I've never lived. N. T. Wright india wish culture Justice and beauty are central to God's new world and should be central to our work. Together they frame the good news of Jesus. N. T. Wright working-together justice jesus Paul's vision, though, is starting small, with actual communities in which reconciliation and justice has to be practiced - like the rich/poor distinction in the Corinthian church, for instance, or the projected reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus. But he clearly believes (Ephesians 3) that communities like this send a signal to the wider world that Jesus is Lord - which is aimed at then the whole world coming into line. N. T. Wright justice believe jesus If you believe in the Bible, you've got to do business with it and not just screen it out. N. T. Wright if-you-believe screens believe When I was at seminary in my early twenties, one of my teachers said to me, "You're going to have to decide. Either you're going to be an academic or you're going to be a pastor. You can't be both." I remember thinking, Rats! I want to be both! Why are you telling me I can't do these two things?And so I have kind of oscillated to and always wanted to do both. N. T. Wright teacher two thinking I'm fortunate in that I've grown up in a worshipping tradition which is quite rich musically (and music is very important to me) and has a wonderful resource of hymns from all sorts of different parts of the Church... and to go to church and be able to sing that stuff and listen to a Bach motet or indeed some charismatic choruses. N. T. Wright hymns church important I accept the historical challenge, and with that, I accept the essentially Christian position that God always has more light to break out of his holy Word. N. T. Wright historical light christian Fortunately, Paul is much more interesting than most of his interpreters, myself included. N. T. Wright interpreter interesting We British say "to put the world to rights." I've discovered that that's not the way Americans say it and people scratch their heads and say, "Funny... what does he mean by that?" It means to fix the thing, to make it all better again. N. T. Wright rights mean people There's a great deal about Roman Catholicism that I basically disagree with. For instance, the doctrine of Mary which... I have studied that stuff and I simply don't think that has any mileage at all biblically, theologically, and I've got some friends who are very disappointed that I say that. N. T. Wright doctrine stuff thinking Right answers to difficult questions are better than wrong answers to difficult questions. N. T. Wright right-answers wrong-answers difficult-questions I came to Paul at quite an early age, having already studied Plato and Aristotle; and I found Paul easily their intellectual equal, though he was handling these amazing questions about God, Jesus, Israel, faith and so on. He continues to be an amazingly stimulating thinker, especially when we try to understand the flow of thought in letter after letter rather than just combing him for a few verses on 'our favourite topics', which, sadly, some Christian teachers do just as some journalists and broadcasters do! N. T. Wright christian teacher jesus I am also very excited by the way in which we can see Paul wrestling not only with his Jewish world and its scriptures but also, by clear implication, with philosophical and political issues that were 'out there' at the time. The thing is that for Paul this is all part of the same larger, whole vision of God and God's purposes. Watching how everything comes together is an intellectual treat of the first order - as well as a spiritual and practical challenge to me personally and to the church. N. T. Wright philosophical spiritual wrestling I am an advocate of one form of the New Perspective. But there are as many new perspectives as there are people writing about it. N. T. Wright perspective writing people First-hand acquaintance with the actual texts is always the best way. N. T. Wright hands way firsts Certainly Paul shares the view of the Old Testament prophets that God will one day flood the world with justice and joy - and that this has begun to be fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. N. T. Wright views justice jesus I'm a people person. I like being with people. So I like being a teacher, and so on. N. T. Wright being-a-teacher teacher people I guess, as an Anglican, there's always room to move, which can be a dangerous thing, but also a very healthy thing, because bits of the great biblical tradition which you haven't fully plugged into before you've got the space to grow into... not least, the sacraments. N. T. Wright biblical space moving When it became clear that in fact my father was saying, "It will be interesting to see what you want to do when you grow up," I realized that there was no pressure on that front. And I remember huge relief: Hey, I can go and do what I really know I have to do! N. T. Wright growing-up father interesting I knew that I had to be a preacher. I had to be a minister, which was a puzzle to me because my dad was a businessman. It was a family company and I assumed that I would take it on from him. N. T. Wright ministers businessman dad
