Here’s a recent review I did of N.T. Wright’s book, “What Saint Paul Really Said”:

N.T Wright is a master of word and thought in biblical studies. It is very rare to have one biblical scholar brood over so many fields in his/her discipline; and Wright does just that. Not only has he published the standard work on Jesus (“Jesus and the Victory of God”), but he is planning to do the same for Paul as he gives us a preview in “What Saint Paul Really Said”. He begins by presenting the most influential Pauline scholars of the twentieth century so that he can put himself in context. One key feature to Wright’s approach is his agreement with Albert Schweitzer, W.D. Davies, and E.P. Sanders of the Jewish context from which Paul writes against the likes of Rudolf Bultmann and the increasing notion that Paul was primarily Hellenistic. Wright breaks down this dichotomy, though, in showing that both the Hellenistic world and the Jewish world overlapped in their categories, yet affirms that Paul was influenced chiefly by the Hebrew Bible and the burgeoning rabbinics of the Second Temple Period. This understanding is paramount to Wright’s discussion about the Gospel that carries the rest of the book. He explores the Isaianic roots of the Gospel and unpacks his biblical theology of covenant, sin, exile, and restoration as it strings together the Old and New Testaments. This is a welcome summation of Wright’s current findings, as he writes with clariy, precision, and provocation. It is hard to imagine someone not helped in their understanding of Paul by this book.

You can check out more about Wright at his website linked under Biblical Studies.

Here is a recent review that I just did of C.J. Mahaney’s, “The Cross-Centered Life”:

As one whose church is under the authority of C.J. it is pleasure to be continually inculcated with the gospel. He is as relentless in person as he is in this book of interogating the people of God with the gospel. This is a great gift book because of its readability and brevity. However, such a topic that C.J. is trying to address may beggar further extension. Sometimes we can inadvertently create buzz words that lack significance because of repetition with no variety. I fear that may result from the “cross-centered” model. People could confuse the idea of “cross-centeredness” with “cross-onlyness” assuming that if you have not mentioned the cross or some element of redemption, then it is inadequate. The danger with even the title is to accent the event rather than the person (Christ); the means rather than the end. Also, we are faced with the choice of being redemption-centered merely, rather than wholy God-centered; since God is doing other things apart from saving people (i.e. judging people). This book would be best supplemented with John Piper’s “Pleasures of God”.

I was just having a discussion about this with my friend Dave Scoggins today. He actually brought it up, but this is something I’ve been thinking about ever since I heard of this book and the SGM mentality. I really think that the way that C.J. presents this model, redemption/man seems to be what God is centered on. Is God cross-centered? No, God is God-centered. Thus man should be God-centered. Bottom line. The cross is a means to an end; it is the ratifying event of the New Covenant, the absorbtion of depravity and judgment for all who believe, and the penultimate expression of God. Now God forbid that we boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). But we boast in the cross for what it purchased for us. All boasting is cross boasting. It purchased everything we experience that is good, and everything painful God takes and turns for our good. God designed the cross, though, so let’s center on him. Let’s give him his place. Let’s make him supreme, because that’s what he designed the cross for; to satisfy himself and enjoy himself. You can download Piper’s sermon on boasting in the cross at http://www.biblicalpreaching.info/bpaudio/piper/021300.mp3. It is an epoch making sermon. I’ve listened to it 50 times. Seriously, check it out. It has shaped much of my thinking about the cross.