Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World [9780281084937]

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Justice, Love, Spirituality, Beauty, Freedom, Truth and Power. These are ideals that we all strive for, yet so often we find ourselves falling short. Why is that?

In this deeply insightful meditation, Tom Wright looks to the Gospel of John for answers. With his characteristic wisdom, he shows how John can help us to see not only why we strive for these ideals, or 'signposts', but also why we so often experience them as broken.
He also shows how Christianity provides us with the vision and resources for engaging with the questions posed by each signpost, pointing to a clear and compelling explanation of the world, and of our role and responsibility within it.

PREACH REVIEW:

It is with some trepidation that I write this review, knowing that Tom Wright is highly respected as a New Testament scholar in academic circles and has over 80 publications to his name. What makes a great theologian? Not just depth of study and analysis, but original thought and an ability to explain ideas clearly to others. Wright has all these credentials. Added to that, as one-time Bishop of Durham, his deep Christian faith shines through as he relates his ideas to everyday life, making his works really useful for preachers.

This book is not, as I had mistakenly assumed, a study of the seven ‘signs’ (miracles) in John’s gospel. The ‘signposts’ are what Wright identifies as major Johannine themes. These seven signposts of justice, love, spirituality, beauty, freedom, truth and power are shown to be fundamental human longings that should point us to the good Creator God; but which are so often corrupted or ‘broken’ in human society. We see how Jesus reinterprets each theme, setting us an example of what ‘made in the image of God’ really means. Hence the subtitle to the book: How Christianity makes sense of the world.

This book is not really for beginners to John’s gospel; but those of us who are familiar with this very special gospel are taken on a magical mystery tour, moving to and fro across the gospel as we follow each signpost. We stop at important places in the Old Testament, and sometimes St Paul hops on board as well. Our guide also lectures us in six short ‘Interludes’ on some background material, such as Jewish festivals and the covenant relationship. As our tour draws to an end, our excellent guide sums up for us and gives us a Scripture Index for easy reference. As we find ourselves back at John’s prologue, the text that stands out for me is: ‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us’ (1.14). Wright uses this throughout to extend the usual Christian ideas of Jesus as the Messiah, to encompass the Johannine idea of Jesus as the new temple. In this way, Wright helps to bring to life the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Like all good tours, we have seen so much that I want to book on it again and invite others to join me.

Review by Jan Thompson for Preach magazine, issue 28, Grief and Lament

AUTHOR:
Tom Wright is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He is the author of over seventy books, including The Day the Revolution Began (2017), Paul: A biography (2018), The New Testament in its World (with Michael F. Bird, 2019), History and Eschatology (2019) and The New Testament for Everyone (2019).