How God Became King

Claiming to challenge the dominant Western reading of the Gospels, N. T. Wright argues that "God became King" through Jesus' life even before the Cross. Wright understands Jesus as the new temple that ushers in a political order radically different from the empires of Herod and Caesar. Rather than separating the Cross and the kingdom, the Gospels picture them integrated into a community whose heart will be forgiveness. Therefore, Wright contends that Christians are primarily called to the holistic mission of kingdom-bringing on earth as it is in heaven.—Bill Walker