God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Listen to John Piper talk about who N. T. Wright is (2.5 min).

[The following is an edited transcript of the audio.]

Bob Allen: As the title of your new book suggests, N. T. Wright is central to why you decided to write this book. Tell us a little about him for those who aren’t aware.

John Piper: N. T. Wright (N. T. stands for Nicholas Thomas.) is a British New Testament Scholar and the Anglican bishop of Durham, England, which I think is probably the 3rd highest ranking bishopric in the Anglican church.

He is a voluminous writer. He’s written three major volumes in a 6-volume work on the New Testament and is regarded probably as one of the foremost New Testament Scholars in the world. And he has written popularly.

What makes him so significant, I think, is the combination of things that he brings. He’s an academic, weighty scholar; he has ecclesiastical leadership; he has a profound commitment to ecumenical involvement; he’s involved in prophetic, social statements and engagements—sort of a cutting-edge speaker on various things in that regard; he’s a popular Christian advocate; He’s written apologetics; he’s got musical talent—there’s a picture of him online playing a guitar; and he’s got a family that’s he’s raised. So what makes him so unusual is the combination of rigorous scholarship and very popular, winsome, eloquent way of speaking with an awareness, I think, of what the cutting-edge issues are in our day.

This is the second question in a 7-part interview that John Piper did in preparation for his forthcoming book The Future of Justification.

• Part 1, Who is this book for?