In his book, “Simply Jesus: A new vision of who He was, what He did, and why He matters”, N.T. Wright illustrates the complexities about seeing Jesus in His time and how historical context as well as many other facets need to be taken into consideration to fully understand Him and His kingdom. Wright uses modern day analogies to assist his audience in comprehending a culture foreign to most and an era that is completely different than our own. He does this by dividing the book into three separate parts that seek to share historical data about Jesus in a way that is not overly-simplified and undermining of who He was, what He did, and why He matters.
Part One of this book does not so much answer questions about Jesus as it does provide readers with “the right questions” (Wright, 2011, p. 7) to be answered. Questions such as “…if Christians don’t get Jesus right, what chance is there that other people will bother much with him?” and how can we expect to understand tomorrow if we don’t understand yesterday (p. 10)? Furthermore, Wright explains in a Jesus like way the “perfect storm” that was created in the first-century which led to Jesus’ inevitable ministry and subsequent death and ascension. The three elements of this perfect storm were the Roman Empire as
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This is quite an obstacle, especially in Western society where many view the evangelical Jesus coming solely to fulfill prophecy as opposed to His Father’s kingdom being reinstituted on earth. Additionally, Wright assumes that his reader will approach his work with an open mind. Even the Twelve doubted Jesus at times and they physically watched miracles performed before their very eyes. “…Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29). Historical facts aside, there must come a time when a person cast away carnal skepticisms for genuine