How God Became King - by N T Wright (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New Testament scholar N.T. Wright reveals how we have been misreading the Gospels for centuries, powerfully restoring the lost central story of the Scripture: that the coronation of God through the acts of Jesus was the climax of human history. Wright fills the gaps that centuries of misdirection have opened up in our collective spiritual story, tracing a narrative from Eden, to Jesus, to today. Wright's powerful re-reading of the Gospels helps us re-align the focus of our spiritual beliefs, which have for too long been focused on the afterlife. Instead, the forgotten story of the Gospels reveals why we should understand that our real charge is to sustain and cooperating with God's kingdom here and now. Echoing the triumphs of Simply Christian and The Meaning of Jesus, Wright's How God Became King is required reading for any Christian searching to understand their mission in the world today.

From the Back Cover

Rediscover the Lost Story of the Gospels

Award-winning New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop N. T. Wright peels back the historical and cultural barriers to reveal the forgotten story at the heart of the gospels. How God Became King will revolutionize how we read the Bible and how we understand our role in the world.

"Wright has never been more eloquent and persuasive than in this book that . . . caps a long, productive theological career."--Booklist (starred review)

"Scholarly, accessible, insightful and challenging . . . an excellent and provocative book."--Christianity Magazine

"One quiet step for the world but one courageous step for the church."--Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University

"Excellent . . . writes as if the material he engages actually matters for the church and the world it lives in . . . has done the church a great favor."--Englewood Review of Books

Review Quotes

"The prolific Christian apologist N.T. Wright... now devotes an entire volume, 'How God Became King' to this trendy subject. Wright's insistence that Christianity has got it all wrong seems to mark a turning point for the serious rethinking of heaven." - The Washington Post
"How God Became King is an excellent book sure to be appreciated by many audiences. Those who have never read the gospels with an eye for the Kingdom of God will be presented a cohesive New Testament theology of God's reign and their faith will be all the better for it. ...Wright is a scholar who writes as if the material he engages actually matters for the church and the world it lives in... and has again done the church a great favor in presenting the gospel story as the story of God and his kingdom on earth." - Englewood Review of Books
"Wright is a scholar who writes as if the material he engages actually matters for the church and the world it lives in... and has again done the church a great favor in presenting the gospel story as the story of God and his kingdom on earth." - Englewood Review of Books
"Wright has never been more eloquent and persuasive than in this book that... caps a long, productive theological career." - Booklist (starred review)
"One quiet step for the world but one courageous step for the church. That's what How God Became King can be today. Tom Wright continues to urge and prod and propose how the church can regain a kingdom footing and end its empire heritage. And, he shows us how we can reshape both what we think about Jesus and how we follow him in our world. We need kingdom proposals not only for the church, but for the world -- and when the church starts to look more like kingdom the world will begin to hear its quiet steps." - Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University
"Tom Wright continues to urge and prod and propose how the church can regain a kingdom footing and end its empire heritage. And, he shows us how we can reshape both what we think about Jesus and how we follow him in our world." - Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University
"Scholarly, accessible, insightful and challenging . . . an excellent and provocative book." - Christianity Magazine
"In How God Became King Tom Wright correctly points out that we often read the beginning (incarnation) and the end (cross) of the Gospels without the large middle where the message of the kingdom rings loud and clear. Wright insists that we should never separate the message of the cross and the kingdom, the spiritual from the political. The two are interwoven and the message of the gospel is weakened if we focus on only one. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to understand the Gospels' message in a way that will not only inform the intellect but also transform life." - Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College
"We often read the beginning and the end of the Gospels without the large middle where the message of the kingdom rings loud and clear. I recommend to everyone who wants to understand the Gospels' message in a way that will not only inform the intellect but also transform life." - Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College