My Question(s) for NT Wright

Well geez, I haven't been here in awhile.

I was wondering when/if I'd get back to this. I'm still wondering, but it might be a good idea to make my presence known, if to no one but the vast, surging, meta-conglomerate of binary information that's sweeping through the primordial aether even as I write this, somewhere just out of sight. (can you tell I've been reading cyber-punk novels?) The interwebs. 


I just posted a comment at Rachel Held Evans' blog for NT Wright. They're going to take the five most popular questions and Wright is going to answer them on the blog.  Wow, what an opportunity! 

Here was my first question: 

What are your spiritual disciplines like? What do you think the church's corporate gathering should look like?

And after some reflection, I decided that while I was interested in knowing his answer to this, I want to dig a little deeper and ask something a little more specific to the content of Wright's work that has fascinated me, so I asked this: 

I live in a place where neo-paganism, new age philosophy, and eastern mysticism are extremely popular. I'm not comfortable with the way the church typically interacts with people in these philosophies when it comes to discussing the Christian faith. The witness usually revolves around trying to convince the New Ager that they are a "legalist" trying to save themselves, or somehow worshipping demons, and that they need to trust Jesus Christ for their salvation, alone, because he is God. It often ends up sounding more like a polemic against universalism than it does FOR Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. It also seems to reduce Jesus to a mere payment for sin, and neglect the rest of his, and Israel's, story. (I've appreciate where you've addressed this reductionism in your work.) 

My question is, how does the Gospel of the Kingdom address such people, both with compassion and affirmation of their desire for good, and without compromise on Jesus' exclusive claim to the throne of the universe, and his promise of redemption through his own Resurrection life? Should the Gospel's nature as the fulfillment of Israel's hope be reflected in the message to the New Ager, and if so how? And how might the Gospel "complete" or fulfill the New Ager's hope for a better world in the same way it did Israel's? Thanks,

Nate

So if you could ask one question of any saint from history, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them? 

I would like to write more, but I'm still trying to figure out how much of my time it should take up.  I've been reading a lot, playing a lot of music, and working a fair amount, so it's something that may have to be added to the periphery. But I would still like to continue writing, here or somewhere else.  A different blog, maybe?  

Oh, one more thing: I noticed that there's another blog out there titled "The Jesus Paradigm." Seems we see things in a similar way.  His URL is a lot more simple and direct, though!