"The Day the Revolution Began" - Wright or wrong? (2)

Chapters 1 and Chapter 2

Can I first of all give a warning, and then a little hope! The first few posts are going to be rather negative, rather critical of the book. I even wondered if I should stop writing this stuff, as I don't want to write critical post after critical post. However, I have just read chapter 5 and thinks get a lot more positive. So be prepared, but, if you can, stick with me on the journey. It might be better than you think! I am afraid it is the seventh post before we reach the sunlit uplands.

An important part of the thesis of the book is that the atonement should be looked at in the light of salvation being much more than getting a ticket to heaven. Tom Wright expands on this in his excellent book Surprised by Hope, a book which has much that I agree with, in particular the fact that heaven will not be a matter of sitting on a cloud strumming a harp. Isaiah and Revelation speak of a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus in much of His teaching speaks of us having responsibilities, as does Paul.

A warning bell went off when he says “They wrestled with the question of how the angry God of the late medieval might be pacified” (loc 485, I am reading the Kindle version which has no page numbers, so I can only give Kindle locations). He is talking about how the reformers (Luther etc) were reacting against the Roman Catholic teaching on the Mass, and the reformed view of the atonement as dealing with the wrath of God. He seems to betray a similar view of the wrath of God that is all too common. I have explained my view of the wrath of God on several occasions and will do so again. The common view of the wrath of God is often as an uncontrolled anger, ie similar to human rage. However, this is not the Biblical view. There are two key aspects to God’s wrath. On the one hand it is a passionate hatred of sin, on the other hand it is completely just and rational, and we need both of these aspects if we are to truly appreciate God’s wrath. God’s wrath is not just a cold mechanistic response to human sin, but one that involves the heart of God. But it is not an uncontrollable rage, but one based on the truth of what sin is, one that is perfectly rational and righteous. It is based on the truth of what sin does to us as individuals and as a society, on the harm that my sin does to me, and the harm that my sin does to others. Only God fully appreciates the true awfulness of sin, and dealing with sin is the problem that runs right through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Through the cross and resurrection and problem of sin was dealt with, completely. Now this has consequences both for us as individuals, and corporately, and we must not set one off against the other. Wright seems to be following the "rage" view of wrath.