I first stumbled upon NT Wright under the resource list at emergent village. There are four MP3s there of talks that he gave on The Future of the People of God. These talks opened up a whole new world for me. When I was telling a friend about the talks a few months ago, he suggested that I read The Challenge of Jesus and let me borrow his copy. It took me a little while to get through it, but it was a great read. It opened the veil for me to some larger story lines in the bible and the pivotal role that Jesus played in ushering the first day of the new creation.

I really enjoyed his walk through of the road to Emmaus story on the afternoon of the first Easter and his connection back to Psalm 42 & 43. He talks about how the Jews expected the exile to end with Jesus through the traditional means– holiness, zeal for God & the law, and some kind of military revolt– and their disappointment and confusion when he is crucified by the pagan Romans that he is supposed to overthrow. He ties in 43:3-4 to the frustration and fear they must have felt on the road to Emmaus after the death of Jesus and how Jesus comes, gives them the skinny on God’s redemptive work through the law and the prophets culminating in Himself and reveals Himself to them causing them to run back to Jerusalem with Joy and join up with rest to figure out what in the world had just happened (boy that was a long sentence). He then wraps this all into thoughts on post-modernity. He has some great insights into post-modernity and the Churches challenge in addressing/comprehending it. Good stuff!