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

"The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative" by Christopher J. H. Wright(2006), InterVarsity Press.Christopher J. H. Wright is the director of international ministries for the Langham Partnership International, known as John Stott Ministries in the United States of America. A doctor of philosophy in Old Testament ethics, Professor Wright has formerly taught Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary in India and has served as principal of All Nations Christian College, a missionary training school in Ware, England. Dr. Wright has written commentaries on Deuteronomy and Ezekiel and is also an ordained Anglican priest, serving on staff of All Souls Church Langham Place in London, England. In "The Mission of God", Dr. Wright argues for a holistic missional hermeneutic, that takes into serious considering the Holy Scriptures in their entirety, paying particular attention to how the Old Testament acknowledges a biblical theology of mission, which is then carried on through the Gospels and letters of the New Testament.In part one, Dr. Write explains that in order to show how the mission of God, and the participation of God's people in that mission, operates as a framework for understanding the grand narrative of the Bible, a missional hermeneutic must be discovered through a complete understanding of Scriptures and from that, an extrapolation of God's purpose. This should take place first without superimposing missional ideas or proof-texting of certain passages, both removed from context and also the overarching Biblical theme. By explaining how the shaping of a misisonal hermeneutic begins with the Biblical authority of mission in the sovereignty of God's action in human history, Dr. Wright then moves on to cover God's providence and sending for mission, "The People of Mission", and the "Arena of Mission" in parts two, three, and four respectively.In regards to both the Old Testament and New Testament, Dr. Wright states that "the process by which these texts came to be written were often profoundly missional in nature" (p.49), indicating that a missional interpretation comes from a missional authorship. Offering a demonstration of how this is true in the Torah, historical books, and wisdom literature, Dr. Wright goes on to affirm a three-form pattern of God's reality, the reality of His story, and the reality of his chosen people in the world, and how they are are continued explicitly in the Gospels, Acts, and Pauline Epistles. Ultimately, these three realities are embodied and extended through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Dr. Wright states that "these realities authorize our action in mission. They make our mission appropriate, legitimate, and indeed necessary and inevitable. The authority for our mission flows from the Bible because the Bible reveals the reality on which our mission is based (p. 54). Through a proper and holistic Biblical hermeneutic, it becomes apparent that the missional bias of the Bible is conceived in the divine purpose of God. Instead of an anthropocentric or ecclesiocentric definition of mission, Dr. Wright calls for a paradigm shift to a theocentric worldview, where the Church is an agent designed to undertake the mission God has been resolving from and into eternity.An unexpected yet positive contribution of this book, is Dr. Wright's tackling of postmodernism. Dr. Wright highlights the fact that Christianity has always existed within multiple cultural contexts. He states, "cultural plurality is nothing new for Christian mission. It is rather the very stuff of missional engagement and missiological reflection" (p. 46). Realizing that cultural relation exists behind, in, and above the Scriptural narrative should give new insights to the current proliferation of voices in dissonant conversation between style and substance.A second favorite strength of Dr. Wright's book is that he declares a holistic reading of Scripture will yield a holistic view of mission. Thus mission encompasses aspects of not only the spiritual realm, but also generates Kingdom impact in the social and political arenas as well. Dr. Wright uses the story of the Exodus to promote a model of redemption when integrated with mission and the Jubilee as a type of a case study on the implications of ethics in mission and as a theology for evangelism.In terms of a critical observation, though Dr. Wright places priority in the ownership of mission in the hands of God, he positions humanity as the primary agent for that mission. Agreeing with Karl Barth's Trinitarian teaching of the missio Dei, Wright fails to explicitly state that the Church is empowered by the Spirit. Tracing the roots of the Abrahamic covenant in Paul's letters, Dr. Wright concludes that like Israel, God's people as the Church, are elected to be a blessing to the nations. Another critique, though perhaps minor, would be Dr. Wright's four worldview questions for all religions. He proposes that the Old Testament answers the fundamental subjects for humans, being such contemplations as: Where are we? Who are we? What's gone wrong? And, what is the solution? The most obvious question missing is "why are we?" If God's intention for humanity is found in his purpose for creation, then His mission should more than adequately address that inquiry.Overall, "The Mission of God" is a comprehensive analysis of the Bible that provides a missional hermeneutic for the Church to be lived out. Though weighty in scholarly research and sometimes excessive with Old Testament rendering, Dr. Wright has successfully produced a theology for mission that is Scripturally based in the metanarrative of the Bible.

I have littered its pages with underlines, asterisks, margin notes, and notations of selah!The depth and connectedness of Wright's presentation is astonishing. The weaving of "both-and" conjuctiveness in his theological approach is masterful and inspiring. So smoothly and fully delivered, it is convincingly apologetic without dogmatic deviseness. This book is relatively easy to read yet I found myself reading and re-reading its pages, ever more slowly, absorbing the richness of this masterpiece.

After a lecture given in 1998, Christopher J. H. Wright was approached by Anthony Billington and questioned “about the validity of using a missiological framework as a hermeneutical approach to reading the Bible. Is it possible, is it legitimate, is it helpful for Christians to read the whole Bible from the angle of mission? And what happens if they do?” (531). Thorough and dense, though still not exhaustive in its 535 pages, THE MISSION OF GOD: UNLOCKING THE BIBLE'S GRAND NARRATIVE is the result of Wright’s journey in attempting to answer those questions. Just as it changed Wright in the process, I believe the journey will aid its readers in understanding what it means to be part of the mission of God, that which Scripture exclaims in its entirety.Divided into four parts (The Bible and Mission, The God of Mission, The People of Mission, and The Arena of Mission), THE MISSION OF GOD progressively brings the reader into the biblical narrative and a better understanding of what it means to be a fellow pilgrim in God’s creation as intended by our Creator, recalibrating our posture from one of self-focus to God-focused participants in the continued narrative of God’s mission. I strongly recommend reading through the book in its entirety—it’ll take a while—in order to fully appreciate the journey as intended, but there is a detailed outline at the beginning and lengthy index at the end for those wishing to jump to particular sections for personal study and/or research.As a proponent of reading the Bible in its narrative context and encouraging others to find and live out their place within this continued narrative, I appreciate Wright’s work and the result of his efforts in wrestling with this hermeneutical quest. It is a “must read” in my opinion, especially for those teaching, promoting, or looking for a particular method, form, and mode of “doing missions,” as it is often described. A proper reorienting of one’s perspective on what it is to be on God’s mission will better (rightly!) enable one to address the pragmatics of living out that mission in one’s own (or “target”) context.

This is certainly the most impressive book on Mission to be published since Bosch's 'Transforming Mission' and will surely be Dr Wright's 'Magnum Opus.' This outstanding tome entitled `The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative' contains 581 closely reasoned pages and maintains that equally, the `proper way for disciples of the crucified and risen Jesus to read their Scriptures , is (both) messianically and missionally. ( p.30)It should be noted that most books on Mission fail to provide an adequate O.T. basis for mission. David Bosch for example in his excellent book `Transforming Mission' gives us little if any. In this book however, Wright ( also a noted OT scholar as well as Missiologist) goes a long way to rectify this imbalance.'The Mission of God' is not a light read but should be of great interest to all missionaries and Pastors as well as to theology and Bible students. Chris Wright has also designated that the royalties from this book will go to the to worthy charity Langham Literature.John Goldingay, the author of Old Testament Theology, and professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary writes of it:"This marvelous book is all I hoped and expected, and more. . . .We are so fortunate to have the mature fruit of a lifetime's reflection on the missional nature of the Bible by this outstanding teacher, scholar and missionary theologian."If you want an outstanding book on Mission which will be around for years to come: This is it!

A essential tool in understanding the role and purpose of 'Mission' has God in Christ intended it to be.

fantastic book you may not agree with all it says but it will make you think and today anything that makes you think is good

An excellent resource for the student and an amazing book if you want to understand how the Bible reflects the mission of God. Written in a style that makes it easy to read and digest.

In years to come this book will be regarded as a seminal study on Biblical theology. Mission really is the key to unlock the Bible's grand narrative - God's mission in Jesus Christ.