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Discerning the Dawn: History, Eschatology and New Creation

2018
University of Aberdeen

The question of 'natural theology' interlocks with the related questions of whether we can conceive of God acting in the world at all, as well as why, if God is God, evil persists in the world. Can specific events in history, like those reported in the Gospels, afford the necessary point from which to ask and answer such questions? Widely shared cultural and philosophical presumptions have conditioned our understanding of history in ways that truncate our epistemic horizons and make the idea of historical divine action problematic. But could better historical study itself win from ancient Jewish and Christian cosmology and eschatology a renewed account of knowledge by which to open up and reconsider the fundamental question of the relation of God and world for today?

Professor N.T. Wright argues that this can indeed be done. The eight lectures in this series develop a distinctive approach to natural theology grounded in an 'epistemology of love'. This approach arises from reflection upon the significance of the ancient concept of the 'new creation' for our understanding the reality of the world and the reality of God in relation to one another.

 

Books

History and Eschatology: Jesus and the Promise of Natural Theology

Baylor University Press
2019
ISBN: 
9780281081646
Videos

1 – The Fallen Shrine: Lisbon 1755 and the Triumph of Epicureanism

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 1, 12th February 2018

2 – The Questioned Book: Critical Scholarship and the Gospels

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 2, 14th February 2018

3 – The Shifting Sand: The Meanings of ‘History’

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 3, 19th February 2018

4 – The End of the World? Eschatology and Apocalyptic in Historical Perspective

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 4, 21st February 2018

5 – The Stone the Builders Rejected: Jesus, the Temple and the Kingdom

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 5, 26th February 2018

6 – A New Creation: Resurrection and Epistemology

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 6, 28th February 2018

7 – Broken Signposts? New Answers for the Right Questions

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 7, 5th March 2018

8 – The Waiting Chalice: Natural Theology and the Missio Dei

Gifford Lectures 2018 - Professor N.T. Wright - Lecture 8, 7th March 2018

Contributor(s)
  • University of Aberdeen