Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament
Christopher Wright's work emerges from his conviction that contemporary Christianity has largely severed Jesus from his Hebrew roots, creating a truncated understanding of both Christ and Scripture. Writing as a biblical scholar and Anglican clergyman deeply versed in Old Testament studies, Wright addresses what he sees as a fundamental disconnection: Christians who know Jesus but remain strangers to the Hebrew Scriptures that shaped his identity, mission, and message.
Wright demonstrates how Jesus understood himself and his mission through Old Testament categories, showing that the Hebrew Scriptures provided not merely predictive prophecies but the conceptual framework within which Jesus operated. He traces how Jesus embodied Israel's story, fulfilled its covenant expectations, and brought to completion the narrative arc that runs from Abraham through David to exile and restoration. The work examines Jesus as the true Israel, the ultimate David, the perfect sacrifice, and the inaugurator of God's kingdom, arguing that each of these identities makes sense only within Old Testament theology. Wright shows how Jesus interpreted his own suffering and death through passages like Isaiah 53, how his parables drew on Israel's agricultural and social world, and how his teachings on discipleship reflected covenant themes of blessing and responsibility.
The book has endured because it addresses an ongoing problem in Christian biblical literacy and provides pastors, teachers, and students with concrete tools for reading Scripture as a unified narrative. Wright's approach has influenced how theological educators teach biblical theology and how preachers connect the testaments in their proclamation.
Who should read this: Christians who want to deepen their understanding of Jesus by engaging seriously with the Hebrew Scriptures, pastors seeking to preach more biblically integrated sermons, and students of biblical theology. This is not for those seeking devotional reading or basic Christian instruction, but for readers ready to do substantive theological work.