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The Tablet
Sixth in a series
Reflecting back on my experience of my years of teaching philosophy, especially teaching about the mystery of the human person, I am very aware of how much my views of what it means to be a human person have changed. Lately because of what I am reading and teaching I am very aware of how much my view of freedom has changed.
I was especially interested to learn what N.T. Wright would say in his chapter on freedom in his new book Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World (New York: HarperOne, 2020, pp. 198, $27.99). Identifying freedom as one of seven signposts that seem to be “broken” in the contemporary world, Wright believes that in St. John’s gospel there are many wonderful insights that can help people become freer.
The Tablet
Fifth in a series
The late Father Andrew Greeley frequently expressed in print his view that beauty can draw us toward God. It can act like a sacrament revealing God to us and drawing us closer to the Infinite Beauty who God is. I never disagreed with Andy’s insight but I don’t think I ever gave it as much thought as I should have. Reading N.T. Wright’s Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World (New York: HarperOne, 2020, pp.198, $27.90) has moved me to appreciate Andy’s insight more than I had previously.
Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
The Tablet
Fourth in a series
One of the seven broken signposts that A.T. Wright studies in his new book Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World (New York: HarperOne, 2020, $27.99) is spirituality. It is one of the seven signposts that Wright doesn’t think are working in the contemporary world and which he thinks can be healed by embracing the vision that St. John presents in his gospel. I smiled as I read the first couple of sentences in Wright’s chapter on spirituality.
The Torah was very important in the spiritual life of the Jews. (Photo: CNS/Marie Mischel, Intermountain Catholic)
The Tablet April 29, 2021
Painting titled “Saint John the Evangelist” by Domenichino (c. 1620s)
Anyone who has ever read St. John’s gospel probably recalls that the gospel has some beautiful statements about love. What I found so exciting about N.T. Wright’s reflections on love in his book Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World (HarperOne, 2020, pp. 198, $27.99) is Wright’s insistence that John’s gospel not only contains some beautiful insights into love but that the entire gospel is about love, God’s love for creation and our love for God and other persons.
Reading Wright’s insights into John’s gospel made me feel as though I was seeing what John was about for the first time. I suppose this is why Wright is considered a great scripture scholar and I am not. If I ever needed evidence about Wright’s knowledge of sacred scripture, reading Broken Signposts provided the evidence.