Opening section of the book, Simply Jesus, by N.T. Wright.

1. Dick Robinson
RiverWind Global
262-327-4243
dickrobinson@mac.com
www.riverwindglobal.net/simply_jesus/

2. Wright’s Goal…
“…putting together, layer upon layer…what
I thought might help someone who really
wanted to find the way to Jesus, to Jesus
as he really was, and so to find the way
through Jesus both to God himself and to
a life in which ‘following Jesus’ would make
sense.” (p. xi)

3. my goal(s)…

4. my goal(s)…
For us to know how to read the Bible more
clearly

5. my goal(s)…
For us to know how to read the Bible more
clearly
For us to come away with a better
understanding of Jesus

6. my goal(s)…
For us to know how to read the Bible more
clearly
For us to come away with a better
understanding of Jesus
For us to come away with a bigger view of
God

7. my goal(s)…
For us to know how to read the Bible more
clearly
For us to come away with a better
understanding of Jesus
For us to come away with a bigger view of
God
For us to live more productively as followers
of Jesus in God’s world

8. Tom Wright
N.T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham
in the Church of England and one of the
world’s leading Bible scholars. He is now
serving as the chair of New Testament and
Early Christianity at the School of Divinity
at the University of St. Andrews. For
twenty years, Wright taught New Testament
studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford
Universities, and he has been featured on
ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and
Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning
author of…

9. What’s ahead…

10. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:

11. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?

12. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?
Part II (ch’s 6-14) - Jesus’ public career

13. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?
Part II (ch’s 6-14) - Jesus’ public career
His purpose & methods

14. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?
Part II (ch’s 6-14) - Jesus’ public career
His purpose & methods
How 1st Century Jewish people thought

15. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?
Part II (ch’s 6-14) - Jesus’ public career
His purpose & methods
How 1st Century Jewish people thought
Jesus’ death - resurrection - exaltation

16. What’s ahead…
Part I (ch’s 1-5) - Key questions:
Why does it matter? What makes it hard?
Part II (ch’s 6-14) - Jesus’ public career
His purpose & methods
How 1st Century Jewish people thought
Jesus’ death - resurrection - exaltation
Just what is the “Kingdom of God”?

17. What’s ahead…

18. What’s ahead…
Part III (ch 15) - “What can we take-away?”

19. What’s ahead…
Part III (ch 15) - “What can we take-away?”
Four contemporary proposals

20. What’s ahead…
Part III (ch 15) - “What can we take-away?”
Four contemporary proposals
Jesus’ way to run the world is through his
followers… Spirit-led worship constituting,
“energizing”, & deploying us as the ‘body
of Christ’

21. What’s ahead…
Part III (ch 15) - “What can we take-away?”
Four contemporary proposals
Jesus’ way to run the world is through his
followers… Spirit-led worship constituting,
“energizing”, & deploying us as the ‘body
of Christ’
Kingdom of God becomes reality in us &
through us!

22. Chapter 1
“A Very
Odd Sort
of King”

23. Q: What do we make of Jesus?

24. Q: What do we make of Jesus?

25. Q: What do we make of Jesus?
“Jesus - the Jesus we might discover if we
really looked! - is larger, more disturbing, more
urgent the we - than the church - had ever
imagined…We have reduced the kingdom of
God to private piety, the victory of the cross
to comfort for the conscience, and Easter
itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad,
dark tale. Piety, conscience, and ultimate
happiness are important, but not nearly as
important as Jesus himself.” (pp. 4-5)

27. We want a builder; Jesus is the architect

28. We want a builder; Jesus is the architect
We want a singer; Jesus is the composer

29. We want a builder; Jesus is the architect
We want a singer; Jesus is the composer
We want a king; Jesus is THE King

30. Chapter 2
“The Three Puzzles”

32. Jesus’ world is strange to us.

33. Jesus’ world is strange to us.
Jesus’ God is strange to us.

34. Jesus’ world is strange to us.
Jesus’ God is strange to us.
“Jesus spoke and acted as if he
was in charge.”

35. “This isn’t about ‘religion’ in the sense the
Western world has imagined for over two
hundred years. This is about everything:
life, art, the universe, justice, death,
money. It’s about politics, philosophy,
culture, and being human. It’s about a
God who is so much bigger…”

36. “…The really striking, and really puzzling,
thing about Jesus - then and now - is that
he seems not only to have been talking
about this much bigger God, but actually
launching the transformative new project
this God had planned all along. And his
followers really believed it had happened.”

37. Chapter 3
“The
Perfect
Storm”

39. western
wind
(rational skepticism)

40. high-pressure
system
(conservative Christian
reaction)
western
wind
(rational skepticism)

41. reaction)
system
(conservative Christian
high-pressure
“
of …th
th th e ‘
an es Je
e s
th the cu us’
e l w
ea Jes tur ho
rl us al
y g
w wa ets
Ch e r
ri a s m ca
st ct
ia ua ay ugh
n t
w lly be in
rit fi c
in n d on the
gs in si
… d c
” th era ros
s
(p e
p. pa bly fir
16 ge le e
-1 s ss
7) o
f
wind
western
(rational skepticism)

42. tropical
hurricane
(problem of historical complexity)
reaction)
system
(conservative Christian
high-pressure
“
of …th
th th e ‘
an es Je
e s
th the cu us’
e l w
ea Jes tur ho
rl us al
y g
w wa ets
Ch e r
ri a s m ca
st ct
ia ua ay ugh
n t
w lly be in
rit fi c
in n d on the
gs in si
… d c
” th era ros
s
(p e
p. pa bly fir
16 ge le e
-1 s ss
7) o
f
wind
western
(rational skepticism)

44. Jesus Myths*

45. *story asserted as
Jesus Myths*
historical, serving
the beliefs of the
community;
narratives, symbols
and actions

46. *story asserted as
Jesus Myths*
historical, serving
the beliefs of the
community;
narratives, symbols
and actions
Modernist
Jesus a good man
Taught love &
kindness
No miracles, so no
resurrection
Followers told
stories that
became legends

47. *story asserted as
Jesus Myths*
historical, serving
the beliefs of the
community;
narratives, symbols
and actions
Modernist
Jesus a good man
Taught love &
kindness
vs.
No miracles, so no
resurrection
Followers told
stories that
became legends

48. *story asserted as
Jesus Myths*
historical, serving
the beliefs of the
community;
narratives, symbols
and actions
Western Christian Modernist
Supernatural God Jesus a good man
Supernatural son Taught love &
kindness
miracles vs.
No miracles, so no
dies & rises resurrection
Rescue operation Followers told
stories that
New Testament became legends

49. Chapter 4
“The Making of a
First-Century Storm”

50. Roman Storm

51. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title

52. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title
son, Octavian…Augustus (“worthy of honor”)

53. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title
son, Octavian…Augustus (“worthy of honor”)
declared father - Julius - had become divine

54. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title
son, Octavian…Augustus (“worthy of honor”)
declared father - Julius - had become divine
so Octavian = Caesar Augustus - “son of God”

55. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title
son, Octavian…Augustus (“worthy of honor”)
declared father - Julius - had become divine
so Octavian = Caesar Augustus - “son of God”
title: “Pontifex Maximus” - “chief priest”

56. Roman Storm
Julius Caesar…family name to a royal title
son, Octavian…Augustus (“worthy of honor”)
declared father - Julius - had become divine
so Octavian = Caesar Augustus - “son of God”
title: “Pontifex Maximus” - “chief priest”
Virgil: wrote of coming of “novus ordo seclorum”
- “a new order of the ages”

58. Jewish Storm

59. Jewish Storm
The 1stC Jewish story has a goal: God is
coming to deliver his people and rule world!

60. Jewish Storm
The 1stC Jewish story has a goal: God is
coming to deliver his people and rule world!
David - the shepherd/king

61. Jewish Storm
The 1stC Jewish story has a goal: God is
coming to deliver his people and rule world!
David - the shepherd/king
Moses - deliverance from Egypt (Red Sea)

62. Jewish Storm
The 1stC Jewish story has a goal: God is
coming to deliver his people and rule world!
David - the shepherd/king
Moses - deliverance from Egypt (Red Sea)
Abraham - calling to be God’s chosen people

63. Jewish Storm
The 1stC Jewish story has a goal: God is
coming to deliver his people and rule world!
David - the shepherd/king
Moses - deliverance from Egypt (Red Sea)
Abraham - calling to be God’s chosen people
Creation & covenant

64. Chapter 5 “The Hurricane”

65. “…the third element in the first-century perfect storm: the strange, unpredictable,
and highly dangerous divine element. The wind of God.”

66. God enthroned as King…

67. God enthroned as King…
songs of Israel (‘king’, ‘kingdom’, ‘shepherd’ -
see Ezekiel 34)

68. God enthroned as King…
songs of Israel (‘king’, ‘kingdom’, ‘shepherd’ -
see Ezekiel 34)
Israel’s God as king, in Jerusalem, in the
Temple

69. God enthroned as King…
songs of Israel (‘king’, ‘kingdom’, ‘shepherd’ -
see Ezekiel 34)
Israel’s God as king, in Jerusalem, in the
Temple
in one person: the shepherd of Ezekiel & a
ruler from David’s house

70. God enthroned as King…
songs of Israel (‘king’, ‘kingdom’, ‘shepherd’ -
see Ezekiel 34)
Israel’s God as king, in Jerusalem, in the
Temple
in one person: the shepherd of Ezekiel & a
ruler from David’s house
all nations will be brought under his rule

71. God enthroned as King…
songs of Israel (‘king’, ‘kingdom’, ‘shepherd’ -
see Ezekiel 34)
Israel’s God as king, in Jerusalem, in the
Temple
in one person: the shepherd of Ezekiel & a
ruler from David’s house
all nations will be brought under his rule
result will be justice, peace, and the end of
all oppression

73. anointing as equipping & enabling for task

74. anointing as equipping & enabling for task
YHWH’s return to Israel to be enthroned, not
only over Israel, but the world

75. anointing as equipping & enabling for task
YHWH’s return to Israel to be enthroned, not
only over Israel, but the world
Jesus embodied both Davidic king and the
returning God

76. anointing as equipping & enabling for task
YHWH’s return to Israel to be enthroned, not
only over Israel, but the world
Jesus embodied both Davidic king and the
returning God
not simply a “religious” claim, but includes all
of life: politics, power, culture, family, ethics,
worldview (pp. 54, 55)

77. anointing as equipping & enabling for task
YHWH’s return to Israel to be enthroned, not
only over Israel, but the world
Jesus embodied both Davidic king and the
returning God
not simply a “religious” claim, but includes all
of life: politics, power, culture, family, ethics,
worldview (pp. 54, 55)

78. 7 The earth trembled and quaked, 11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
and the foundations of the mountains shook; the dark rain clouds of the sky.
they trembled because he was angry. 12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
consuming fire came from his mouth, 13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
burning coals blazed out of it. the voice of the Most High
resounded.
Text
Psalm 13
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
18:7-15 with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
9 He parted the heavens and came down; 15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
dark clouds were under his feet. and the foundations of the earth laid bare
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; at your rebuke, Lord,
he soared on the wings of the wind. at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

79. “…you have to understand…the ancient
Jewish vision of God…[who always]
remained free and sovereign. Again and
again in the past, the way Israel had
told its own story was different from
the way God was planning things.…Often
God’s way of telling the story cut clean
against the national narrative. And
Jesus believed that this was happening
again in his own time.” (p. 37)

80. takeaway

81. takeaway
How do I evaluate my
understanding of Jesus?

82. takeaway
How do I evaluate my
understanding of Jesus?
What difference
does it make