Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 27:3 (Fall 2023)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

SBJT 27:3 (Fall 2023) p. 172

Book Reviews

The Great Story and the Great Commission: Participating in the Biblical Drama of Mission. By Christopher J. H. Wright. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023, 156 pp., $23.99 paper.

Christopher J. H. Wright draws from his extensive works The Mission of God and the Mission of God’s People in a concise fashion for scholars, pastors, and laymen alike in this welcomed addition, The Great Story and the Great Commission. As the title suggests, Wright seeks to understand how the metanarrative of scripture, as well as the individual pericopes, inform the church regarding its mission— what the church is actually seeking to do and to accomplish. His thesis is that how we read Scripture influences our understanding of our mission. He employs a missional hermeneutic in his analysis of Scripture, which understands the Bible as the record, the product, and the tool of God’s own mission. From here, Wright argues that the whole of the Bible can be divided into seven acts: (1) Creation, (2) Rebellion, (3) Promise, (4) Christ, (5) Mission, (6) Judgment, and (7) New Creation. He understands the present world to be occurring in Act 5, the mission of the church, yet maintains that the other six acts (both the past and the future) should inform the church how we are to carry out our mission now. He then turns to discuss the five marks of mission that he identifies from the Anglican Consultative Council in 1984 (evangelism, teaching, compassion, justice, and creation care) which he believes are throughout Scripture but summarized in the Great Commission text, Matthew 28:18–20. Two major presuppositions for this scheme, which Wright acknowledges, are (1) that these five marks reflect what God Himself is doing and (2) that all five marks can be found in the Great Commission. The rest of Wright’s work is dedicated to exploring the five marks of mission. He seeks to demonstrate the presence of these five marks throughout all of Scripture and explain how they ought to shape our mission here and now in Act 5. Wright then concludes his argument with three observations: (1) God’s whole mission is for God’s whole church, (2) the whole church’s mission includes every church member, and (3) every church member’s mission includes the whole of life.

SBJT 27:3 (Fall 2023) p. 173

Wright, as a renowned Old Testament scholar, is able to show the current relevance of the Old Testament for the New Testament church. In what way is the Old Testament relevant? According to Wright, it is relevant in every way as it informs the church’s mission since that mission is the same as God’s mission. Pastors and scholars will welcome Wright’s comments regarding the Old Testament’s value for the chur...