NT Wright, thoughts, etc.

First, he was intelligent, well-spoken, an excellent communicator, and uses humor in just the right doses. Too much humor is annoying, but a sprinkle of humor, particularly when aimed at the speaker, is disarming.

Second, there was much to love in what he said. Mainly, his extensive commentary on the new creation. The new creation is a theme that God has continued to bring up in my heart, so I enjoyed that. Also, interestingly enough, some of his words on Adam and his sin reminded me of what I said to the guys at the Biblical Masculinity talk I gave.

There was much to love, yes, and I enjoyed it. I will have to answer my mother's question about why I think NT Wright will ultimately prove to be a negative influence in the church. Let me give some unrelated observations first:

1. He wore a pink shirt with a clerical collar and a silver cross dangling around his neck.

2. There were a surprising amount of earnest young people around my age. Some asked fawning questions, including a dude whose five minute long question could be summarized as follows: You are so awesome! How can I convince all my friends you are awesome?

Another guy, possibly a young follower of Mark Driscoll managed to ask the most annoying question by asking him about justification after the first half of the talk, in which Wright did not mention justification except in passing.

3. My favorite question of the morning came from a guy who prefaced his question like this: I grew up in the Charismatic tradition, but lately I've been attending an Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

This made me laugh for some reason. Maybe it was the way the guy said it...it sounded very rehearsed. But his one of many questions whose main purpose seemed to be to prove the intelligence of the questioner.

4. I've debated telling this story, but here goes. When I got out of my car in the apparently abandoned parking lot, I let out a tremendous [censored]. Then I looked to my left to see a wide-eyed young couple also getting out of their car. I shrugged it off...but then when I found my seat later they were sitting right next to me.

5. I met a guy who described himself as a "Biblical studies nerd." This rubbed me wrong for some reason. He was wearing Lacoste shoes. Also he was the guy who heard me [censored].

6. Southern California Christians are interesting. Did you know they have these jeans called True Religion jeans that are really expensive? As far as I know, they are not connected to Christianity in any way, but they do cost several hundred dollars. One of the dudes sitting near me had them on. I'm not sure why I noticed this. Also, the church Wright spoke in was massive.