Bishop Tom Wright

I've been listening to a bunch of NT Wright recently. He is incredibly helpful and Christological. His book Simply Christian is simply great! I haven't read his other works, but I'm sure some will enter my library soon.



This morning I heard a lecture with this anecdote which I summarize here.

When Bishop Wright was a chaplain at an Oxford college, he would take time in each semester to spend a few minutes with each of the new students. He would offer himself as a spiritual resource and guide. Inevitably, some students would say something like, "Thanks so much, but you probably won't be seeing much of me, because I'm an athiest." To which Wright would always say, "Oh, that's interesting. Which God don't you believe in?" The student would be shocked, but would stammer out always the same basic answer about a God who lives in the sky, and looks down on the world and occasionally intervenes in the affairs of the world. The chaplain always responded with, "I see. I think we are together on this athiesm, then. I don't believe in that God, either." The students would look puzzled, and then he would add, "I believe in the God revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and he is nothing like what you described." Then he would thank the person for coming and send them on their way with this question firmly planted in their mind.

Brilliant evangelism! I love it.