Creation, Power and Truth: The Gospel in a World of Cultural Confusion

by N. T. Wright

Publisher:

SPCK

, 2013

Overview

In Creation, Power and Truth, Tom Wright invites readers to consider the crucial ways in which the Christian gospel challenges and subverts the intellectual, moral, and political values that pervade contemporary culture. He asks searching questions about three defining characteristics of our time: neo-gnosticism, neo-imperialism, and postmodernity.

Employing a robust trinitarian framework, Wright looks afresh at key elements of the biblical story while drawing out new and unexpected connections between ancient and modern worldviews. The result is a vigorous critique of common cultural assumptions and controlling narratives, past and present. Creation, Power and Truth is a compelling read for all who want to hear, speak, and live the gospel of Christ in a world of cultural confusion.

Key Features

• Considers how the gospel challenges the values of contemporary culture
• Counters the arguments of contemporary worldviews and postmodernity
• Examines the biblical narrative, drawing out new connections between the ancient and modern

Contents

• Introduction
• God the Creator in a World of Neo-Gnosticism
• Jesus the Lord: The Gospel and the New Imperialism
• Spirit of Truth in a Postmodern World
• Conclusion

Top Highlights

“If the outside world, including my own body in its male or female particularity, are not the good creation of a good and wise God, but rather the inessentials made by a blind and stupid creator, and if instead my inner ‘experience’ is what really counts, then I not only can but must be true to the spark of light, and indeed of desire, which I find most deeply within myself, even if it goes contrary to the apparent order of creation, the norms of traditional society, and the teaching of the Bible and the church.” (Page 12)

“Dan Brown has been saying things people in our day want to hear so badly that they are prepared to swallow ridiculous and unhistorical proposals in large quantity as long as they get the worldview they want.” (Page 5)

“As Carl Jung famously said, ‘Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens’. The result, exactly in line with ancient Gnosticism, is that the real locus of authority is neither in the creator God, nor in the world that he made, nor in the Bible, nor even in Jesus, but in oneself and one’s own ‘experience’.” (Pages 15–16)

“there is the modern self-description: the Enlightenment. We are the enlightened ones,” (Page 7)

“The three challenges are the contemporary versions of Gnosticism and imperialism, and then the apparently new (but in fact very old) phenomenon known as postmodernism.” (Page 3)

Product Details

• Title: Creation, Power and Truth: The Gospel in a World of Cultural Confusion
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Publisher: SPCK
• Print Publication Date: 2013
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. N.T. Gospels › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780281069873, 9780281069880, 0281069875, 0281069883
• Resource ID: LLS:CRTNPWRTRTH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T23:01:54Z

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (1948–) is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop and currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Christianity Today named him one of today's top theologians. 

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and recounts an awareness of God's presence from a young age—and that relationship with God ever since is reflected in his life and work. He's a prolific author; one of his most popular books, Surprised by Hope, frames the resurrection of the dead as the appropriate hope for all believers rather than an overemphasis on just "going to heaven when you die." He's among the leading theologians in the New Perspective on Paul debate. Wright has several honorary doctoral degrees, and in 2014, the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt Medal "in recognition of special service to biblical studies." In 2015, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Wright served as chaplain at Cambridge from 1978 to 1981, then as assistant professor of New Testament language and literature at McGill University in Montreal. Before becoming a chaplain, tutor, lecturer, and fellow at Oxford in 1986, Wright served as dean of Lichfield Cathedral, canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, and the bishop of Durham from 2003–10. In addition to the entire New Testament for Everyone Series, some of N. T. Wright's books include The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, Who Was Jesus, The New Testament and the People of God, God and the Pandemic, Evil and the Justice of God, Surprised by Hope, and Simply Christian. He coauthored Jesus the Final Days with Craig A. Evans.