Tackle Key Questions from the Past Two Decades in this Fully Updated EditionEngage with the latest scholarship on the biblical theology of mission and missional hermeneutics with Christopher J. H. Wright's classic text—nowfully revised and updated!Most Christians would agree that the Bible provides a basis for mission. But Christopher Wright boldly maintains that there is a missional basis for the Bible itself. The entire Bible is generated by and is all ab...

Many Christians believe that they have to understand everything about their faith for that faith to be genuine. This isn't true.There are many things we don't understand about God, His Word, and His works. And this is actually one of the greatest things about the Christian faith: that there are areas of mystery that lie beyond the keenest scholarship or even the most profound spiritual exercises. Sadly, for many people these problems raise so many questions and unc...

What do we understand by integral mission and how do we connect it to the Great Commission? Is mission a specialist activity just for a selected few?Wright’s offers theological reflections on these questions by expounding five dimensions of Christian mission, in which every member of the church ought to participate. These should spark off conversations and initiatives that lead to greater integration and alignment of the tasks of the church with God’s mission.

We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the straggler of the Trinity, a latecomer in God's interaction with the world. But our first introduction to the Holy Spirit is not the drama of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. We first meet the HolySpirit in the second verse of the Bible, hovering there, speaking the world into existence.Christopher Wright begins here and traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament. We see the Third Person of the Trinity in the decr...

It's almost second nature for Christians to call God Father. Jesus taught his followers as much, although for them it was apparently a surprising practice. The worshiping community of the Old Testament used fatherly images for understanding God'scharacter and actions, but "Father" was not a common way for believers to address God.In Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, Christopher Wright explores in depth the images that pervade the biblical narratives, psalms...

**How should Christians live?**On the one hand, some very legalistic Christians stress the importance of keeping all the rules—that you must do this and never do that if you want to prove you are really a Christian. On the other hand,there are those who reject the whole idea of rules or traditions in the church and see the point of the Christian faith as setting us free from the institutionalized religious burden. But Paul addresses these two competing views by showing us a farbetter way—a...

Two features especially distinguish the Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary series: theological exegesis and theological reflection. Both of these features are fully realized in this THOTC volume on Ezra and Nehemiah by David J. Shepherd and Christopher J. H. Wright.Following an introduction and concise, verse-by-verse commentary on both books, Shepherd and Wright highlight key ways in which these Old Testament texts continue to speak to us today. They closely examine what Ezra an...

What does the Bible say about God's purpose for us, the witness of the church, and our mission to spread the message of the gospel?Chris Wright's pioneering 2006 book, The Mission of God, revealed that the typical Christian understanding of "missions" encompasses only a small part of God's overarching mission for the world. God is relentlessly reclaiming the whole of creation for himself, and each of us fit into that big-picture plan.In The Mis...

Combining three volumes into one, Knowing God Through the Old Testament brings together three of Christopher J. H. Wright's best loved books: Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, and Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament.Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament explores images that pervade the biblical narratives, psalms, and prophetic texts of the Old Testament. God is ac...

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover AwardWhen the Israelites exclaimed, "Here are your gods!" at the sight of the golden calf, they were attempting to hold on to the God of their history while fashioning idols for their own purposes. In today's Western world, plenty of shiny false gods still hold power—idols of prosperity, nationalism, and self-interest. Christians desperately need to name and expose these idols. We must retrieve the biblical emphasis on ido...

Nothing confuses Christian ethics quite like the Old Testament. Some faithful readers struggle through its pages and conclude that they must obey its moral laws but may disregard its ceremonial and civil laws. Others abandon its teaching altogether in favor of a strictly New Testament ethic. Neither option, argues Chris Wright, gives the Old Testament its due.In this innovative approach to Old Testament ethics--fully revised, updated and expanded since its first appearance in 1983 as L...

Some people find the Old Testament to be confusing, out of date, and essentially replaced by the New Testament. They are missing out. The Old Testament offers us a grand narrative that reveals God's work, God's purposes, and God's wisdom.Christopher J. H. Wright fits the pieces together and shows us the coherent whole. Using seven key sentences drawn straight from the Old Testament, he connects the dots and points us toward Jesus."In the beginning God created...