Monday, November 07, 2011


Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in Early Christianity - Tom Wright

Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in Early Christianity
Inaugural lecture at St Mary's College, University of St Andrews 26th October 2011

By Tom Wright
Posted November 7, 2011

The four gospels stand magisterially at the head of the canon and the centre of early Christianity. They are remarkable documents. If they had been lost for centuries, and then dug up last year in the sands of Egypt, they would be hailed as among the most extraordinary writings from antiquity. Despite the occasional efforts to push them out of their central position and substitute other documents, whether actually existing (such as the wrongly named Gospel of Thomas) or reconstructed (such as the hypothetical document 'Q'), the majority of scholars still believe, rightly in my view, that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John deserve their place. The fact that they are well known should not blind us to their remarkable blend of page-turning narrative, vivid portraiture (especially of their central figure), historical verisimilitude and sophisticated theology.

Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org

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