Author: N.T. Wright
Review By: G. Stephen Goode
This book is taken from 5 lectures given by N.T. Wright between 2003-2005 as he looks at the issues of evil and what it looks like in our world today.
Bishop Tom Wright basically reminds us that evil is not something that we are going to “solve” in this world but how do we as people of God bring signs of God’s new world through Jesus’ birth, death and through the Holy Spirit into this present time where evil exists.
He goes on to ask questions like, “what does a Christian and Jewish worldview on evil look like?” What happens when we trivialize and/or water down evil in our world? He reflects upon how evil is found in the Old Testament and how does God address the problem of evil? He asks us to reread the Gospels with not another view of the atonement but a process of actions and how Jesus dealt with evil to better see how we can respond to evil. God heard the cries of His people and came to set them free. He suffered. He was persecuted. He died an awful death. In all our affliction, he was/is afflicted.
N.T. Wright also reminds us about our intermediate tasks in standing against evil through prayer, holiness and proactivity to politics and empire, penal codes and international disputes.
Wright then ends up with examples of the power of forgiveness against acts of evil done towards people with models that we can emulate and follow. All in all, I have been continually surprised at N.T. Wrights writing style, his engaging content that stimulates my thinking and requires a response and action. Again, he does not disappoint in this book and it is well worth your time.
Purchase Evil and the Justice of God at World Christian Bookstore
