The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture
N.T. Wright
Published 2005
Harper San Francisco
146 pages
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The title of this new work by N.T. Wright alone is audacious enough. There are mutliple layers of meaning to it ranging from a suggestion that this very book is the last word on the authority of scripture to the more obvious reference to canonical scripture being the last written word received by God.
The premise of the book is simple enough – Wright, a well known Anglican bishop and theologian proposes the following – "the authority of scripture is really a short-hand for the authority of God exercised through scripture; and God’s authority is not merely His right to control and order the church, but His sovereign power, exercised in and through Jesus and the Spirit, to bring all things in heaven and on earth into subjection to His judging and healing rule."
Though only 146 pages long Wright manages to cram as much insight about scripture and the church’s historical interaction with it as possible. The point of the history lesson which starts with Israel and leads us through to our post modern context is simply to show how the church has by and large drifted rather far from a healthy understanding of the authority of scripture and thus to a reasonably unhealthy place today. The book is not meant to be bleak and certainly doesn’t come across that way. Rather it is meant as a corrective or a realignment for the church in terms of how we should relate to and honour scripture.
There is a brilliant overview of the period of history from the enlightenment to the end of modernity which history will most likely mark as Sept. 11, 2001. Wright provides compelling evidence that this 200 year enlightenment period has dramatically undermined the role and understanding of scripture both inside and out of the church. He also offers thoughts on how this new iconoclastic post modern age we’re in is rapidly tearing down a lot of modernity/enlightenment assumptions which suggests on opportunity to reshape (or reform) our thinking regarding scripture and it’s primacy in the life of the church and her members. While Wright points out some of the positive impact of post modernity he also warns against blindly embracing it in replacement of modernity.
Wright offers an intriguing hermeneutic model for the reader’s use in approaching and understanding scripture – that of the five-act play. Wright says "the Bible itself offers a model for its own reading, which involves knowing where we are within the drama and what is appropriate within each act."
The acts are:
1. Creation
2. the Fall
3. Israel
4. Jesus
5. The Church
We find ourselves in the fifth act and as Wright says "we must act in the appropriate manner for this moment in the story; this will be in direct continuity with the previous acts (we are not free to suddenly jump to another narrative, a different play altogether), but such continuity implies discontinuity, a moment where genuinely new things can and do happen."
Wright’s approach is intriguing in that it suggests that with the proper understanding of scripture and the authority God exercises through it we can become aware that God is continuing to do a new thing with His creation. That it is possible that we will come to new understandings and insights even now, 2000 years since Christ, and that we can do this while maintaining a high and orthodox view of scripture.
The book is brilliant. I would highly recommend it as an introductory companion to the Bible. It reads at a university level but this should not frighten anyone away. In his discussion of common misreadings of scripture Wright is even handed in observing the failings of both the traditional "right" and "left" while at the same time openly dismissing the right/left cut-and-paste dichotomy (Bible Wars) as simplistic, rooted in enlightenment/modernist tendancies and overall of great waste of time and energy which dishonours scripture and God.
I should say that Wright ends the book with a short encouragement to the highest levels of church leadership to re-establish the reading of scripture in our churches, not merely as an afterthought or a short introduction to the sermon but rather as "an act of worship, celebrating God’s story, power and wisdom and, above all, God’s son. This is the kind of worship through which the church is renewed in God’s image, and so transformed and directed in its mission."
The call by Wright is clear – church leaders need to take scripture seriously and centre themselves and their denominations on scripture. "All too often," says Wright, "the official leaders of the various denominations are so swamped with bureaucratic and administrative tasks (which Wright is quick to say is important), that, although they still preach sermons and perhaps even give lectures, they do not give the church the benefit of fresh, careful and prayerful study of the text, but rather simply draw on their studies of many years ago and the inspiration of the urgent moment."
Within an hour of finishing the book I read a pastoral letter from the president of our denomination, Dr. Franklin Pyles. In one of those strange God-coincidences that happen periodically Dr. Pyles’ letter was a brilliant post-script to Wright’s book. Among other things Dr. Pyles challenges us on the reading of scripture in our churches –
"Recently," Dr. Pyles writes, "I walked past a Roman Catholic church in Taipei. I spoke to a man who had just emerged and he told me that he was the morning lector. What is a lector? It is the lay person who reads the Scriptures that morning. Usually Scriptures from the Old Testament and the New are read.
May I humbly point out two things: first, hardly any evangelical bothers to bring their Bible to church anymore, and second, in some churches (hopefully not yours) the public reading of scripture has been diminished or has disappeared. So I want to ask you a question. Which church, ours or the Roman Catholic, is truly honoring the Bible?"
In the letter Dr. Pyles urges the leadership of our denomination to "forsake the Modernist Church, and move forward, not to Post Modernism, but to a full presentation of the glory and riches of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as like John, we fall at his feet together in worship."
The letter was a great bookend to Wright’s book – both were an encouragement and a challenge.
Harnessing Chaos 
I haven\’t read anything by Wright yet, though I hear about him from time to time. Part of what you were describing in his book, the 5 "acts" or different dramas, sounds sort of like "5-rather-than-7-point" dispensationalism. Is it similar?
On the side, any church using the lectionary will have public reading from all parts of Scripture; definitely a good thing. So even if the sermon turns out lousy that week, the people will benefit (also the idea behind a liturgy which is basically the words of Scripture sung and spoken). Also, the churches where it is less common to have your Bible open during the service, like ours, tend to have a sharper distinction between preaching and Bible study. In the sermon, the pastor expounds on the text and preaches God\’s Law and Gospel; the hearers listen and receive it. Everyone is of course encouraged to read their Bibles during the week and we pore over the Scriptures together in Bible study. :o)
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As I read his book I began to become suspicious of this as well but it really turns out to be a metaphorical structure to read scripture within as opposed to something rigidly doctrinal like dispensationalism.
In terms of the reading of scripture – Wright comes from a liturgical Anglican tradition so in some ways his discussion might hit closer to home for you as he does mention the same thing you do. You\’re welcome to borrow book anytime.
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