KJV on NT Wright’s Paul
I’ve been listening to the audio from the 2010 Wheaton Theology Conference this week and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The conference–focused on the work of NT Wright–covers almost the entire swath of Wright’s biblical theological projects (which are not a few).
Wright has been and continues to be criticized from reformed theological circles about his rehashing of the doctrine of justification. I sympathize with his detractors, agreeing with Kevin J Vanhoozer (KJV) and others whose problem with Wright’s redefinition has more to do with what he denies about justification than what he affirms. Often the debate between Wright and his critics has to do with the relocation of justification language as primarily ecclesiological rather than soteriological. I think KJV gets to the heart of the matter when he asks whether, in the law court metaphor, the trial is a civil suit or a criminal one. That is, is being justified about a civil dispute as though I was an adopted son going to court to fight for my stake in the inheritance with the biological child of our father? Or am I a criminal who has transgressed the law standing before the judge waiting to be sentenced? The court scenes are vastly different and I suspect that much of the confusion over Wright’s redefinition has been caused because we haven’t been clear about what kind of court we’re in. But while I don’t think Wright is trying to circumvent the dire situation in which sin places all humanity before God, I do think that his reading is susceptible to an interpretation which downplays of the seriousness of sin as transgression against God.
Following KJV’s talk, Jeremy Begbie gave a great paper on the influence of NT Wright in the emerging church movement. He explored five ways in which Wright’s work intersects with the values of the emerging movement. These five emphases were positive ways the movement has utilized Wright. I would add at least one more connection between Wright and the emerging movement–but it’s not a positive one. I fear that Wright’s redefinition of justification unduly leaves room for the more “liberal” wings of the movement to downplay the seriousness of sin as transgression against God. If Wright’s law court is a civil court, as KJV implies, then I think this move is congenial to a diluted view of sin, which in turn drastically effects what we believe to be the plight of humanity and God’s solution to it in Christ.
