The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative

by Christopher J. H. Wright

Overview

• Winner, 2007 Christianity Today Missions/Global Affairs Book

Most Christians would agree that the Bible provides a basis for mission. But Christopher Wright boldly maintains that mission is bigger than that--there is in fact a missional basis for the Bible! The entire Bible is generated by and is all about God's mission.In order to understand the Bible, we need a missional hermeneutic of the Bible, an interpretive perspective that is in tune with this great missional theme. We need to see the "big picture" of God's mission and how the familiar bits and pieces fit into the grand narrative of Scripture.Beginning with the Old Testament and the groundwork it lays for understanding who God is, what he has called his people to be and do, and how the nations fit into God's mission, Wright gives us a new hermeneutical perspective on Scripture. This new perspective provides a solid and expansive basis for holistic mission. Wright emphasizes throughout a holistic mission as the proper shape of Christian mission. God's mission is to reclaim the world--and that includes the created order--and God's people have a designated role to play in that mission.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830864966
Publisher:	IVP Academic
Publication date:	01/30/2013
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	582
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Christopher J. H. Wright (PhD, Cambridge) is international ministries director of the Langham Partnership, providing literature, scholarships, and preaching training for pastors in Majority World churches and seminaries. He has written many books including commentaries on Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel, The Mission of God, Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God, and Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. An ordained priest in the Church of England, Chris spent five years teaching the Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary in India, and thirteen years as academic dean and then principal of All Nations Christian College, an international training center for cross-cultural mission in England. He was chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group from 2005-2011 and the chief architect of The Cape Town Commitment from the Third Lausanne Congress, 2010.

Christopher J. H. Wright (Ph.D., Cambridge) is director of international ministries for the Langham Partnership International (known in the United States as John Stott Ministries). Formerly he taught Old Testament and served as principal of All Nations College in Ware, England. He is the author of Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Part I: The Bible and Mission
1. Searching for a Missional Hermeneutic
2. Shaping a Missional Hermeneutic
Part II: The God of Mission
3. The Living God Makes Himself Known in Israel
4. The Living God Makes Himself Known in Jesus Christ
5. The Living God Confronts Idolatry
Part III: The People of Mission
6. God's Elect People: Chosen for Blessing
7. God's Particular People: Chosen for All
8. God's Model of Redemption: The Exodus
9. God's Model of Restoration: The Jubilee
10. The Span of God's Missional Covenant
11. The Life of God's Missional People
Part IV: The Arena of Mission
12. Mission and God's Earth
13. Mission and God's Image
14. God and the Nations in Old Testament Vision
15. God and the Nations in New Testament Mission
Conclusion
Bibliography
Indexes

What People are Saying About This

Andrew F. Walls

"A rich and most impressive work. It is a splendid exposition of a comprehensive biblical theology of mission, and will have to be taken seriously by every student of the subject."

M. Daniel Carroll R.

“This comprehensive study by a seasoned missiologist and Old Testament ethicist demonstrates that the entire Scripture is consistent in its message and thrust. I have waited years for a book like this!"

John Goldingay

"This marvelous book is all I hoped and expected, and more. It threatens to revolutionize what people usually mean by the missional aspect of the Scriptures. And it also threatens to revolutionize understandings of the Scriptures by its demonstration that they are, through and through, a missional document."

Editorial Reviews

"This marvelous book is all I hoped and expected, and more. It threatens to revolutionize what people usually mean by the missional aspect of the Scriptures. And it also threatens to revolutionize understandings of the Scriptures by its demonstration that they are, through and through, a missional document."

John Goldingay

"A rich and most impressive work. It is a splendid exposition of a comprehensive biblical theology of mission, and will have to be taken seriously by every student of the subject."

Andrew F. Walls

This comprehensive study by a seasoned missiologist and Old Testament ethicist demonstrates that the entire Scripture is consistent in its message and thrust. I have waited years for a book like this!"

M. Daniel Carroll R.

"Wright has truly laid a cornerstone in the edifice of mission, one on which a biblical theology of mission would be wise to build."

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

"The second edition of Christopher Wright's The Mission of God confirms and refreshes its status as a classic in the field. Its bibliographic updates are extensive; its new eighth chapter on election and supersessionism is a landmark. It affirms that God's covenant with Israel is unique and irrevocable and that God's purpose to become incarnate does not depend on the Fall. These revisions will jump-start an exciting season in biblical theology of mission."

Collin Cornell

"Having assigned The Mission of God in my seminary classes, I welcome this thoroughly revised edition. The Mission of God is an ambitious work because Christopher Wright argues that the missio Dei is not merely one theme in the Bible set alongside others but is rather the central aim of the Scriptures. In order to accomplish this task, Wright engages his critics and demonstrates his expertise in hermeneutics, theology, biblical studies, and missiology. The result is a book that is academically rigorous while also eminently practical."

Bo H. Lim

"Christopher Wright simply is one of our best scholars and writers today. His work on mission and missional readings of the Bible is peerless and vitally important. The Mission of God is a tour de force, and it is a delight to see it going into an updated second edition. This book deserves the widest possible reception and the closest study. It will enhance the mission of the church at this critical time."

Craig Bartholomew

"The Mission of God was one of the most important books I read in seminary. Returning to it has been such a joy! Christopher Wright is a master communicator whose expanded and clarified exposition is a true gift to our generation. His careful attention to the storyline of the Bible provides a rich feast of insight for pastors, seminary students, and laypeople committed to discovering how the whole Bible unfolds the mission of God and invites our participation in it as subjects of the Lord Jesus. I offer my hearty and unreserved recommendation!"

Carmen Joy Imes

"With this second edition, one of the best works of biblical theology is even better thanks to new chapters on the future of Israel and evangelism. Christopher Wright holds before us a vision of a God with a holistic mission who creates a church that is to join in this all-encompassing mission. Excited for the new edition to reach a new generation of students who will deeply resonate with this biblical vision."

Andrew T. Abernethy

"The Mission of God is valuable, not only for its exposition of God's mission, but also for its defense of the unity of Scripture and its development of the themes of the covenant of grace and the kingdom of God."

Nick Smith

"Chris Wright, known for many important studies in Old Testament ethics and theology, has again written a book that deserves wide circulation. At a time when many biblical scholars continue to emphasize the minutiae of diverse traditions, and at a time when the missionary task of the church is either questioned by postmodern critics or diminished by pragmatic pundits, Wright's new book is a reminder of the unity of Scripture, the importance of sound hermeneutics and exegesis, and the fundamental significance of the missionary calling of the church. Wright demonstrates with consistent and passionate argumentation that the missionary mandate of the church does not simply rest on the great commission in Matthew 28, but that the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the result of the very nature of God and of God's people. This book should be a required text for theologians and exegetes, pastors and students, missionaries and Christians in general."

Eckhard J. Schnabel

"Beautifully written, Wright's work sees God's mission as a framework for understanding the whole Bible; a key that unlocks the 'grand narrative' of Holy Scripture. It clarifies many difficult issues and is a major contribution to a biblical theology of mission."

Gerald H. Anderson

"Wright blends Old Testament scholarship, missionary experience and missiological heart in this extraordinary book. He does a marvelous job of framing the questions and detailing the answers in accessible prose. Missiology has long been in need of someone who can offer an appropriate map not just for walking us through mission in the Bible but for leading us more deeply into the Bible through a missiological lens. Chris Wright offers us this bidirectional map in masterful fashion that will become standard reading in the field for years to come."

Scott Moreau

"To an already impressive list of publications dealing with the Bible and mission, Chris Wright now adds what must surely be his magnum opus. This remarkably comprehensive work does nothing less than point the way ahead for the global Christian movement in the twenty-first century, and in the process it challenges a host of received assumptions in biblical scholarship, Christian theology and missionary practice. I believe Wright's book will be seen as the most important work of its kind since David Bosch's contribution in the 1990s, and, like that work, it is likely to be read, discussed and hopefully applied to practice for years to come."

David W. Smith

"This excellent book encourages Bible scholars, pastors, missionaries and informed Christians to read the Bible with new eyes, the eyes of God's missional intention for the world that God loves. The author joins others like Walter Kaiser, Johannes Nissen, Arthur Glasser and James Chukwuma Okoye in demonstrating that only a missionary reading of the Bible does full justice to God's self-revelation described therein. I will be using this book as a primary textbook in several courses."

Dr. Charles Van Engen

"In this book, church and mission leaders will find a wealth of fresh scholarship exalting God's initiative—and, indeed, more than a bit of subversion."

Jim Reapsome

"One is hard pressed to find much fault with either the conception or the execution of this nicely published and helpfully organized treatment of what is arguably the most important idea in the world. Seldom do works on mission view these themes so globally and comprehensively."

Criswell Theological Review

"This book is a fascinating combination of introduction on biblical hermeneutics, biblical theology, and, at the same time, it is a missiology textbook."

The Presbyterian Outlook

"A short review can only acknowledge the brilliant, balanced scholarship that Wright evidences throughout. . . . [T]his is a must-read. . . . [T]his book is one to be meditated on and prayed through."

International Bulletin of Missionary Research

"Blending cutting edge biblical scholarship with a sensitive missiological awareness and passion, Wright demonstrates that the Bible—from beginning to end—is a missionary book."

July 2007 EMQ

"The volume provides much to admire and to learn from. . . . He has produced one of the best examples of this genre currently available."

Stephen Fowl for Theological Studies

"This is a book that needed to be written."

M. Daniel Carroll

"The book refocuses the lens with which we have been reading the Bible and understanding our ecclesial responsibilities. It is well worth reading."

Dianne Bergant

"Wright systematically allows God to be portrayed through his own canonical self-revelation. The resultant portrait is glorious and persuasive. The Christian church is indebted to Wright for tackling this major project."

Jo Ann Davidson

"Words like 'missional' and 'missiological' have become commonplace in churches looking to make an impact on their communities and the world. While this renaissance of mission orientation has spawned welcome enthusiasm, . . . confusion has also followed. What does it mean to be missional? Christopher Wright's The Mission of God provides the answers to these questions and many more. The purpose of [this book] is not simply to show why mission is important or how mission is a vital part of the identity of the Church, but to show that mission, in many ways, is the purpose for the Church and the priority in its identity. Therefore [this book] seeks to read the Bible as a story of God's mission to restore creation and his people's role and mission in that restoration."

Daniel J. Doleys

"Wright has truly laid a cornerstone in the edifice of mission, one on which a biblical theology of mission would be wise to build."

Michael J. Glodo

"This is a text that every serious believer ought to reckon with regardless of academic specialty or ministerial preference. Wright's book forces the reader to consider the very worldview paradigm by which he or she reads and understands his or her Bible, Christian life, experiences, and purpose. Written beautifully in winsome prose the book is both accessible as well as profound. The Mission of God is a book that rightly deserves a place near the top of anyone's must-read list."

Mark Liederbach

"Wright's study, coinciding with . . . a nascent missional hermeneutic of the Bible, amounts to a landmark contribution to that hermeneutic's development."

Greg McKinzie

"Wright has produced a compelling book of paramount importance for mission studies and practice, and contributed greatly to the fields of hermeneutics and biblical theology."

Calvin L. Smith