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| Evil And the Justice of God | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 22 reviews)
Sales Rank: 19909
Category: Book
Author: N. T. Wright
Publisher: IVP Books
Studio: IVP Books
Manufacturer: IVP Books
Label: IVP Books
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0830833986
Dewey Decimal Number: 231.8
EAN: 9780830833986
ASIN: 0830833986
Publication Date: October 13, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
With every earthquake and war, understanding the nature of evil and our response to it becomes more urgent. Evil is no longer the concern just of ministers and theologians but also of politicians and the media. We hear of child abuse, ethnic cleansing, AIDS, torture and terrorism, and rightfully we are shocked. But, N. T. Wright says, we should not be surprised. For too long we have naively believed in the modern idea of human progress. In contrast, postmodern thinkers have rightly argued that evil is real, powerful and important, but they give no real clue as to what we should do about it. In fact, evil is more serious than either our culture or our theology has supposed. How then might Jesus' death be the culmination of the Old Testament solution to evil but on a wider and deeper scale than most imagine? Can we possibly envision a world in which we are delivered from evil? How might we work toward such a future through prayer and justice in the present? These are the powerful and pressing themes that N. T. Wright addresses in this book that is at once timely and timeless.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
Worth Reading, Worth Discussing October 21, 2008
N.T. Wright's Evil and the Justice of God is, perhaps, one of the most important books on "the problem of evil" to come out in the last decade. Wright's take on evil is not held captive to the philosophical quandary that pits God's goodness against His power. Instead, he takes the reader on a journey through Scripture, highlighting the actions of God in defeating evil and re-creating His world.
Evil and the Justice of God lays out the grand scope of God's redemptive activity in a refreshing way that is easy to read. Wright navigates through current world issues, political philosophy, personal redemption, and the biblical record with ease. The final chapter, a radical call to forgiveness over tolerance, is peppered with real-life illustrations and a solid reasoning that competes with C.S. Lewis. Wright's vision of new heavens and new earth, and his call for Christians to anticipate God's future by living out redemption in the present motivates the reader to join in God's saving work.
Wright differs from conservatives in his call for restorative justice in place of punitive punishment. He differs from liberals in his views on the demonic and his belief in a literal devil (though he demotes Satan to a "quasi-personal being" in order to not give him the honor of personhood).
From a theological standpoint, Wright is his own man. At times, he is thoroughly Reformed, especially in regards to his view of the Law, the goodness of original creation, the depravity of all people, and the call for Christians to engage the world, not escape from it. Yet, while affirming the penal substitutionary model of atonement, he concentrates most firmly on the Christus Victor model, which speaks of Jesus triumphing over the powers of evil.
Overall, this is an important work by arguably the most important Christian theologian of our day. It is worth reading, worth owning, and worth discussing. By the end of the book, you won't have "solved" the problem of evil, but you will have had light shined on a very dark subject.
 Refreshing take on problem of evil September 1, 2008
What was great about this book is that I had to stop and reread some chapters. I really liked Wright's approach to evil. It is not just the philosophers mystery, but it is something that we all face each and every day in all sorts of ways and shapes. I had always thought that the best approach to dealing with the problem of evil was that of a classical apologist. How can a person define what is evil without defining what is good? A classic moral argument leading to God's existence and tolerance of evil for the greater good. Throw that in there with John Piper's comment that God ordains evil and you are left with God looking like He is playing both sides. There is both a strong and a weak point to this.
Wright begins with the Scriptures. He makes the point that though a Theist has grounds to defend a theistic deity, that deity is not necessarily God revealed in Jesus Christ. I think that he is right, in the sense that the Christian story is one where God combats evil through the affirmation that Creation is good and He is recreating it and preparing us to live in the world as He sees it.
He says that evil is a mystery, we do not know it's origin. We do not know whether God ordained it or not, but we do know God is using it and allows it and will ultimately have victory over it. The question of the origin of evil the Scriptures are not concerned about, only that God is dealing with evil on His terms.
The ultimate solution to evil is the Cross and the Victory of God. There is a lot of controversy over Wright's view of the atonement. I thought that He did a good job here when he said that the cross is about Christus Victor, and the atonement theories all represent aspects of that victory. In some mysterious way, Jesus' death and Resurrection won a victory against evil. A victory we appropriate through forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not forgetting, tolerating, or ignoring evil. It is naming it, saying that it is wrong and then living as God's people in the new world order. Forgiveness and reconciliation is a chapter I need to reread as I struggle in forgiving others and forgiving myself. I thought this was an interesting and artistic way of dealing with the problem of evil, one where evil was not at the center, but the victory of God.
Must-read transitional work July 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are very few scholars whose work I wait to be released. Among them thus far in my young scholarly career are Marcus Borg, Garry Wills, Mark Noll and NT Wright, authors whose scholarship is prolific, deeply personal and exhaustively researched.
This books represents a transition on Wright's work from Christological scholarship toward a theology of the cross. Although admittedly more on the level of popular reading, it is a must-read for anyone interested in the debate over the current wave of Christian leaders set on reclaiming faith from the Religious Right in favor a service-based Kingdom theology that focuses less on going to heaven and more on the hope and activity of making heaven a present and temporal reality.
 Disappointing Book from Tom Wright June 27, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
For those unfamiliar with the autor, Tom Wright has some interesting (not exactly orthodox / Biblically sound) theology that makes his more academic books generally a good read.
However, as one of his "pop" books, this one seems to be laden with Western European anti-war commentary that comes across as politically motivated, not Biblically-based.
Profound Insight February 8, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
NT's book approaches the subject in a different way than anything I have read. His insights are myriad and profound. I appreciate his commitment to a thoroughly biblical understanding, tempered by a deep understanding of history and culture.
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