SPCK
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 18 Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 18 Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification
by SPCK - N T Wright
Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification (i) Introduction There is an important sense in which historical method is just like all other methods of enquiry. It proceeds by means of ‘hypotheses’, which stand in need of ‘verification’. As we saw earlier, a better way of puttin…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 17 Wanted: New Categories
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 17 Wanted: New Categories
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter Four HISTORY AND THE FIRST CENTURY THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD (iii) Wanted: New Categories What we find, in short, is that the epistemological tools of our age seem inadequate for the data before us. One of the present ironies, typical of movements within the…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 16 The Causes of the Misconception
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 16 The Causes of the Misconception
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Causes of the Misconception Why then the problem? In particular, why have so many scholars been coy, to say the least, about ‘events’ in the gospels being actual events, rather than simply fictions in the minds of the evangelists?…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 15 This Does Not Mean ‘No Facts’
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 15 This Does Not Mean ‘No Facts’
by SPCK - N T Wright
This Does Not Mean ‘No Facts’ (i) Critical Realism and the Threat of the Disappearing Object The sheer complexity of the historian’s task, and its manifest difference from ‘mere observation’, might lead, and has led some, to the conclusion that there are therefore no such things …
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 14 HISTORY AND THE FIRST CENTURY
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 14 HISTORY AND THE FIRST CENTURY
by SPCK - N T Wright
HISTORY AND THE FIRST CENTURY Historical knowledge, I suggested in chapter 2, is indeed a kind of knowledge. We need to make this point clearly, not least after the last chapter. In a good deal of modern literary criticism, as we have seen, there is so much emphasis on the text a…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 13 Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 13 Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories The parable of the Wicked Tenants, obviously, does not stand alone. Telling stories was (according to the synoptic gospels) one of Jesus’ most characteristic modes of teaching…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 12 The Nature of Stories
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 12 The Nature of Stories
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Nature of Stories (i) The Analysis of Stories: Narrative Structure The way in which stories possess the power they do, by which they actually change how people think, feel and behave, and hence change the way the world actually is, can be seen more clearly by means of an anal…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 11 On Literature
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 11 On Literature
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Literature If, then, we may agree that such a thing as literature exists, and that we can read it and talk sense about it without having our words collapse back upon themselves, it is important that we ask, albeit briefly, what literature itself is, and what we ought to do wit…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 10 Reading and Critical Realism
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 10 Reading and Critical Realism
by SPCK - N T Wright
Reading and Critical Realism What we need, I suggest, is a critical-realist account of the phenomenon of reading, in all its parts. To one side we can see the positivist or the naïve realist, who move so smoothly along the line from reader to text to author to referent that they …
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 9 ‘Is There Anybody There?’
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 9 ‘Is There Anybody There?’
by SPCK - N T Wright
‘Is There Anybody There?’ We have already seen that, while naïve realism imagines itself to have direct access to the event or object spoken of in the text, a more phenomenalist reading realizes that it can only be sure of the author’s viewpoint. This is a less ambitious claim. I…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 8 On Reading
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 8 On Reading
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Reading With these examples in mind, we turn to the question: what happens when we read? The remarks in chapter 2 about the nature of knowledge must now be applied to this specific area. What kind of ‘knowledge’ do we gain as we read?…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 7 Literature, Story and The Articulation of Worldviews
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 7 Literature, Story and The Articulation of Worldviews
by SPCK - N T Wright
Literature, Story and The Articulation of Worldviews The study of early Christianity, of Jesus and Paul, and especially of the theology of the whole movement and of individuals within it, is conducted by means of the study of literature…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 6 Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 6 Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge
by SPCK - N T Wright
Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge Stories are one of the most basic modes of human life. It is not the case that we perform random acts and then try to make sense of them; when people do that we say that they are drunk, or mad…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 5 Knowledge: Problems and Varieties
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 5 Knowledge: Problems and Varieties
by SPCK - N T Wright
Knowledge: Problems and Varieties We have seen that the study of the New Testament involves three disciplines in particular: literature, history and theology. They are, as it were, among the armies that use the New Testament as a battleground…
Full Service - Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2017
Full Service - Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2017
by Andrew Pratt and Marjorie Dobson
Full Service Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2017 – 26th February Service contents: Remember that while the service below has been prepared together with one of the contributors to resources for Church Action on Poverty Sunday, 26 February 2017, more resources are available at th…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 4 “New Testament Theology”
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 4 “New Testament Theology”
by SPCK - N T Wright
“New Testament Theology” The second model we must explore is that of New Testament theology proper. This phrase has come to designate, more or less, the attempt to read the New Testament from a historical point of view, and, either simultaneously or subsequently, to draw its majo…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 2 The Task