Nicholas T. Wright

N. Thomas Wright

Anglican Bishop of Durham, England

Nicholas Thomas Wright is Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. The "On Faith" panelist taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities before becoming Dean of Lichfeld in 1994. He was named Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000, and consecrated bishop in 2003. He has written hundreds of articles and more than 40 books, including Judas and the Gospel of Jesus (2006) and Evil and the Justice of God (2006). He has served as Visiting Professor at numerous institutions including Harvard Divinity School, Gregorian University in Rome and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr Wright holds four degrees, including a divinity doctorate from Oxford University, and honorary degrees from several universities and colleges. Close.

N. Thomas Wright

Anglican Bishop of Durham, England

Nicholas Thomas Wright is Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. The "On Faith" panelist taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities before becoming Dean of Lichfeld in 1994. He was named Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000, and consecrated bishop in 2003. more »

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Religion is God-Given

The word 'religion' has had a long and varied career. In some traditions it has referred specifically to the human attempts to do things to earn God's favour; in others it has referred to the entire package of proper human response to God's love.

Of course, I presume the question means, 'is the whole phenomenon of religion, any religion, simply a human construct, I.e. Is it the case that there is nothing that corresponds to the word "God"?' obviously my answer is 'no': God is real, God is good, God is love, God is what we see God to be in Jesus the Messiah and Lord.

But, equally obvious to me at least, human responses to God vary, and are shot through with ambiguity. I do believe God wants humans to respond to his love, and to do so as a family, i.e. corporately not merely individually. But not all responses, and not all family behavior (i.e. church life) is equally appropriate, and then we get 'religion' in the negative sense, man-made and bad for your health.

Two final comments. 1.Christians believe that God's holy spirit energizes them from within, so that appropriate prayer, worship and 'religion' in general, including moral obedience, is itself God-given. 2. It's odd that a question coming from a secularist corner should use 'man-made' in a somewhat sneering sense. For the secularist, is not the human being the highest and most interesting creature there is? Should we not take the inventions of t is creature very seriouly?

For the Christian, of course (as for the Jew), humans are made to reflect the Creator.

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