by N. T. Wright. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity, 2006. ISBN 0-8308-3398-6. Hb., 176 pp. $18.
Every pastor and every politician should read N.T. Wright’s newest book, Evil and the Justice of God. It serves as both a concise explanation of what the Christian faith has to say about evil and also as a way of understanding all of the terrible things happening in the world around us.
Wright starts by discussing the problem of evil, which is not only a philosophical riddle but a terrible reality in our world today. Wright says that most of us in the West have accepted the Enlightenment myth of progress. Thus we tend to ignore evil in the world for as long as we can, and when it slaps us in the face, we respond to its existence in immature and inappropriate ways.
One immature response is to divide the world into good people and bad people, or good nations and bad nations. We think we can solve the problem of evil by getting rid of a few bad apples. A second and opposite immature response to evil is to assume that it is all our our fault; we have done things to prompt the evil in the world. We think if we changed our ways then evil would go away. Both these responses are too simple. Real life is more complicated and more ambiguous then either of these immature responses.
When we turn to the Bible, we find a different analysis of the problem of evil. Certainly the Bible recognizes that we live in a sinful broken world where evil is a part of our lives. The first few chapters of Genesis make this point clearly. But the Bible also describes how God is at work to overcome the powers of sin and evil. God begins by calling Abraham to follow him and promising that through Abraham he will form a special nation through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed.
But soon we run into a problem. The chosen people, the ones who will be agents of God’s blessing, turn out to be just as sinful and evil as the world around them. The Bible refuses to adapt a kind of easy dualism that says God’s chosen people are completely righteous and their enemies are completely evil.
So the hope for victory over evil shifts from the people of Israel as a whole to a faithful remnant of Israel, or maybe even one faithful leader. But each and every leader also proves to be deeply flawed. The problem of evil is not just out in the world, and not just within some of God’s chosen people. The problem of sin and evil infects every human heart.
A decisive shift occurs with the coming of Jesus Christ. Here is the one who can fulfill Israel’s vocation and become a blessing for every nation of the earth. And yet the way this victory over sin and evil comes is a surprise, and something of a mystery. Jesus conquers evil and sin, not through a display of might, but through acting out God’s forgiveness in human history. The cross is both the way God exposes the depth of sin and evil in the world, and also the way he overcomes sin and evil through sacrificial love.
The Bible also issues a call for us to live as people who are being transformed by God’s Spirit, and who live in anticipation of God’s new creation, where sin and evil will be no more.
Wright lists a number of ways that we in the church are called to participate in God’s coming kingdom. First we are called to be a people of prayer. Over and over again in Scripture prayer is lifted up as one of the key ways that we participate in and move towards the promised kingdom of God. Second we are called to holiness. Wright is not thinking here of some list of rules that tells us what we can or cannot do. He is calling us to live a life that is out of step with the values and priorities of this world, because we know that we are citizens of a different kingdom. We are also called, Wright says, to be involved in the political and international debates of the day, recognizing that God cares about what happens in this world as well as the next. And so we are called to encourage human authorities to do justice, love mercy, and ensure that those who are weak and vulnerable are properly cared for.
Wright closes with a powerful chapter on forgiveness as the way in which the lingering impact of sin and evil will be overcome. Wright is clear that forgiveness does not mean ignoring evil. He draws on Miroslav Volf’s work, Exclusion and Embrace, to insist that the first step in forgiveness is naming the evil and the consequences of that evil. But forgiveness does not stop at naming the evil. It goes on to do the difficult and painful work of reconciliation. As Christians we are called to be a people who practice forgiveness, not as a way of ignoring evil, but as a way of overcoming evil with good.
We live in a world where we are increasingly aware of the evil all around us. And for many of us it is difficult to know how to respond. Wright’s book helps us to focus on the right question. The primary question for us as Christians is not, “Why is there evil in the world?” The primary question for us is, “What has God done to respond to evil, and how is God calling us to be involved in work of overcoming evil in the world and in our lives?” Wright’s book is a brief but very helpful answer to that pressing question.
Ernie Thompson is pastor of First Church in Wilmington, N.C.
