Gripping Reading

I always feel bad complaining about N.T. Wright's work — he's not only prolific, he's perhaps one of the best examples of a scholar who fits somewhere within Evangelical ranks. I like that Wright is willing to question the status quo while remaining strong on the essentials. He's not merely someone who can sound scholarly, he's a major mover and shaker. So, the benefits to reading his works are fairly obvious.

Yet, his scholarly level works can be tedious at times. I'm reading Jesus and the Victory of God for class right now. Some of it is actually quite engaging, and all of his work feels profound. I expect people will be reading these relatively new books still in 100 years. But, it can be slow going. For quite possibly the first time ever — or at least in a very long time — a book put me to sleep. Literally. I'm not sure how long I was asleep, but for a few minutes, I suppose, the second chapter of Wright's work faded into dreamland.

Wright can write quite well, so I'm not sure why he can't try to give his scholarly works a bit more of the life that the great theological writers of the past did. Barth can be hard, but he doesn't put me to sleep. Be that as it may…

I'll likely be writing more on Jesus and the Victory of God in the coming weeks.