NT. Wright – Kingdom, (Liturgical)Worship and the Image of God
Paul writes – Another interesting interview with NT. Wright by Trevin Wax (24th April 2008). Excerpts below. Full interview here. Also, good news is, God willing, that Wright intends to write his big book on Paul at the end of 2009. Volume four in his projected five-volume Christian Origins and the Question of God project.
“…We don’t know how the kingdom works. Take Jesus’ parables about seeds growing secretly and small seeds becoming mustard bushes and so on. The kingdom is always a surprise to us, which keeps us humble. The danger with “building the kingdom” language can make us very proud. “Building for the kingdom” keeps you humble. It says, “These are your tasks; you’ve got to get on with them. How God puts them into the eventual construct is completely his business.”
“…It dawned on me several years ago that when somebody says “no” to God and refuses to worship the God in whose image they are made, saying “I’m not going to worship that God,” then what happens to their humanness is that it progressively ceases to bear the image of God. You become like what you worship. You reflect the one you worship. It’s one of the great truths of spirituality…”
While on the subject of “worship” (see Wright's quote immediately above), many of you will find Simon Chan’s book, Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshipping Community (companion volume to his excellent, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life) thought and praxis provoking. More information on the book can be found here (it includes a PDF of the “Introduction” and a chapter titled: “The Ontology of the Church”. For NZ readers with access to the latest issue (Autumn 08) of the Anglican magazine, Taonga, there is a useful review of the book (pages 40-41).
Finally, and again related to the subject of (liturgical) “worship”, though at a more ‘popular’ level than Chan’s book is the latest from Mark Galli, Beyond Smells & Bells: The Wonder and Power of Christian Liturgy (pub. April 08). You can find a PDF of the "Introduction" here (Hat Tip to Matt Stone).
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