Re: NT Wright and the confusion of kingdom and new creation

Hi Andrew, Thanks for yet another thought-provoking post.

“The emerging church has wanted to affirm both a ‘kingdom’ theology and a ‘new creation’ theology, but there is considerable confusion regarding how these two concepts relate to each other biblically”

I have recently been working through the Prophets, and as you know a controlling theme for many of them, especially Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, is the ‘return from exile’. Associated with this return are numerous themes such as the ‘new heart’, the ‘new covenant’, the ‘good news’ and the related message ‘Your God reigns’ (kingdom language). Of course, ‘new creation’ language is also associated with this awaited return (in Isaiah), and so both ‘kingdom’ and ‘new creation’ language find association with the ‘restoration of Israel’.

With that in mind, I wonder if there is scope for exploring a more mutually relating fulfillment of the two (‘kingdom’ and ‘new creation’) in the ‘new covenant’. Just as Paul could say there is ‘new creation’ for those in Christ, so being ‘in Christ’ was to come under Christ’s lordship. For Paul, both are inaugurated in Christ.

So my thought: I wonder if the prophetic tradition and the Pauline data together put a question mark after the attempt to press a distinction between ‘kingdom’ and ‘new creation’ according to specific eschatological horizons and stages?

All the best, Chris

Chris Tilling http://www.christilling.de/blog/ctblog.html (Blog)