"We are not the centre of the universe." (Tom Wright)

I just started reading Tom Wright's new book Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. Here are a number of interesting quotes.

"Discovering that God is gracious, rather than a distant bureaucrat or a dangerous tyrant, is the good news that constantly surprises and refreshes us. But we are not the centre of the universe. .. It may look, from our point of view, as though 'me and my salvation' are the be-all and end-all of Christianity. Sadly, many people - many devout Christians! - have preached that way and lived that way." (p.7)

"God made humans for a purpose: not simply for themselves, not simply so that they could be in relationship with him, but so that through them, as his image-bearers, he could bring his wise, glad, fruitful order to the world." (p.7)

"God is rescuing us from the shipwreck of the world, not so that we can sit back and put our feet up in his company, but so that we can be part of his plan to remake the world." (p.8)

"The reason I am writing this book is because the present battles are symptoms of some much larger issues that face the church at the start of the twenty-first century, and because the danger signs, particularly the failure to read scripture for all its worth, ..., are all around us... I am suggesting that the theology of St Paul, the whole theology of St Paul rather than the truncated and self-centred readings which have become endemic in Western thought,..., is urgently needed as the church faces the tasks of mission in tomorrow's dangerous world, and is not well served by the inward-looking soteriologies that tangle themselves up in a web of detached texts and secondary theories..." (p. 9)

I was in Hong Kong when I became a Christian. I always understood that the Christian faith is not about "me and my salvation". But now, after twenty years living in Australia, I have to admit that in some ways Tom Wright's observation is right - ie. often we think that we are the centre of the universe. But the Christian faith has to be much more than my salvation. Instead, it is first and foremost about God, and what he has done - and continues to do - in us, for us, in the world and for the world.

I think this new book by Tom Wright would be a good reading for pastors and Christian leaders.

(Not all will agree with Tom Wright, obviously. I, for example, don't expect myself to agree with everything in this book. This book is, however, recommended by Scot McKnight, I Howard Marshall, Rob Bell, Micahel Gorman, Richard Hays, Brian McLaren, Darrell Bock, and others. I am sure it will be an interesting read.)