Russel, it is interesting to learn more of those who come by this corner of the internet, so if you don’t mind, share with us a bit as to where you are from. If you have done so already, sorry I missed it.
@Russell2 I also am a fledgling disciple of Jesus and can empathize with your frustration. What should be a graceful walk with Jesus theology turns into a game of golf. Am I holding the club right? Am I obeying the proper etiquette? Should I get lessons from pro? Everybody has an opinion on how to make you a better golfer and lower your handicap. Ultimately, I landed on Paul’s famous verse (I Cor. 13:13), “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I decided to focus first on love. From that I trust that I will develop hope and from that faith. Love is pretty darn hard to intellectualize.
To answer your question specifically, Nicholas Thomas (N.T.) Wright is above all a scholar who works in the the academic world; that is, you should be able to count on some modicum of scholarly rigor behind his work. “Simply Christian” was one of the first apologetics I read. Did I finish it by slapping my head and saying ,“Oh, now I get it!”? No. Honestly, the one thing I can retained from that book was the Orthodox prayer, “Lord Jesus, Son of the living God. Have mercy upon me. A sinner”. Wright suggested praying that in conjunction with some breathing technique; I employ it daily. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan friar who does not work in a scholarly world. That is not a bad thing. I read “Universal Christ” and found parts compelling and other parts out there.
Here I’ll throw in a third source, Bible Project. They started by making trainer videos on the different books of the Bible. The videos are great work and good content, but for me they’re a means to an end; the end being the podcasts where they hash through hermeneutics, context, word studies, etc. as they prepare the story board for an upcoming video. Tim Mackie has the scholarly background to hold his own with the Wright’s of the world. But he is extremely humble and thoughtful. The real key, however, is Jon Collins. He is the straight-man of the team; he is the quintessential layman. When Tim starts getting really nerdy, Jon will say wait a minute, I don’t get it and walks Tim back. In my ( and everyone’s) need to “square the circle”, they have consistently been my go-to source. Hope this helps.
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Great observations. Welcome to the forum! Good to hear your voice.
Wright has the advantage of a British accent, but The Bible Project has some great videos. They have the advantage that they are well accepted by more conservative churches and don’t have some of the baggage Wright has with American evangelicals, yet from what I have seen they also avoid the fundamentalist’s pratfalls.
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Many thanks for your empathetic message @jmg80525, and thanks to you and @jpm for the recommendation for The Bible Project. Earlier today I listened to an episode of the podcast and it seems quite promising.
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