Christopher J. H. Wright
Encyclopedia
Christopher J. H. Wright, (born 1947) is an Anglican clergyman and an Old Testament
scholar. He is currently the director of Langham Partnership International. He was the principal of All Nations Christian College
. He is an honorary member of the All Souls Church, Langham Place
in London, UK.
, an international training centre for crosscultural mission. He was appointed principal there in September 1993 and held that post for eight years.
(LPI).
Chris and his wife, Liz, belong to All Souls Church, Langham Place
, where Chris enjoys preaching from time to time as a member of the ministry team. This is also the church, of course, where LPI’s founder, John Stott
, was rector emeritus.
Chris and Liz live in London and have four adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
scholar. He is currently the director of Langham Partnership International. He was the principal of All Nations Christian College
All Nations Christian College
All Nations Christian College is a missions college, located in Hertfordshire and validated by the Open University.- Aims :Unlike some Bible colleges, the focus of ANCC is primarily missiological - that is, it is focused on training people for cross-cultural Christian mission service anywhere in...
. He is an honorary member of the All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church is an Anglican Evangelical church in central London, situated in Marylebone at the north end of Regent Street on Langham Place, just south of BBC Broadcasting House. As well as the core church membership, many hundreds of visitors come to All Souls, bringing the average number of...
in London, UK.
Childhood and education
Wright was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1947. His parents were missionaries in Brazil, though Chris as the youngest son was born after they came back at the end of the Second World War. He grew up in Belfast and was nurtured as an Irish Presbyterian. He studied classics at Cambridge in the 1960s, and then started his career as a high-school teacher in Grosvenor High School, Belfast. In the 1970s he studied for his doctorate in Cambridge, England, in the field of Old Testament economic ethics; his book from this work was published as God’s People in God’s Land (Eerdmans and Paternoster).Early professional experience
He was ordained in the Anglican Church of England in 1977 and served as an assistant pastor in the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Tonbridge, Kent, England.Foreign mission service
In 1983 he moved to India with his wife, Liz, and four children to teach at Union Biblical Seminary (UBS) in Pune for five years. At this time he and Liz were mission partners with Crosslinks, an evangelical Anglican mission agency. While at UBS he taught a variety of Old Testament courses at B.D. and M.Th. levels.All Nations Christian College
In 1988 he returned to the U.K. as academic dean at All Nations Christian CollegeAll Nations Christian College
All Nations Christian College is a missions college, located in Hertfordshire and validated by the Open University.- Aims :Unlike some Bible colleges, the focus of ANCC is primarily missiological - that is, it is focused on training people for cross-cultural Christian mission service anywhere in...
, an international training centre for crosscultural mission. He was appointed principal there in September 1993 and held that post for eight years.
Current role
In September 2001 Chris was appointed to his present role as the international director of the Langham Partnership InternationalLangham Partnership International
Langham Partnership International is a Christian organisation founded in 1974 by Anglican clergyman John Stott. It publishes christian literature, provides scholarships for theological courses, and runs seminars to train pastors.-External links:*...
(LPI).
Chris and his wife, Liz, belong to All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church is an Anglican Evangelical church in central London, situated in Marylebone at the north end of Regent Street on Langham Place, just south of BBC Broadcasting House. As well as the core church membership, many hundreds of visitors come to All Souls, bringing the average number of...
, where Chris enjoys preaching from time to time as a member of the ministry team. This is also the church, of course, where LPI’s founder, John Stott
John Stott
John Robert Walmsley Stott CBE was an English Christian leader and Anglican cleric who was noted as a leader of the worldwide Evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974...
, was rector emeritus.
Personal life
Chris, who enjoys running, birding and watching rugby football, has a passion to bring to life the relevance of the Old Testament to Christian mission and ethics. He has written several books mostly on that area. He loves preaching and teaching the Bible, which he does now mostly through the Langham Preaching seminars in different parts of the world. When not traveling around the world for this ministry, and giving international leadership to LPI, Chris gives about three months of each year to his continuing writing projects.Chris and Liz live in London and have four adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.
Writing
- User's Guide to the Bible (Lion Manuals), Chariot Victor, 1984
- God’s People in God’s Land: Family, Land and Property in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Exeter, U.K.: Paternoster, 1990
- Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament, Harpercollins, 1990
- Walking in the Ways of the Lord: The Ethical Authority of the Old Testament, Intervarsity Press, 1995
- Deuteronomy (New International Biblical Commentary),Hendrickson, 1996
- The Uniqueness of Jesus. Thinking Clearly Series. Mill Hill, London and Grand Rapids: Monarch. Reprint 2001. Available in the United States through Kregel Publications, P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501), 1997
- The Message of Ezekiel (The Bible Speaks Today), Intervarsity Press, 2001
- Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. Leicester, England, and Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press. Revised, updated and expanded version of Living as the People of God and An Eye for an Eye, 2004
- The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative,IVP Academic, 2006
- Life Through God’s Word: Psalm 119, Milton Keynes, Authentic and Keswick Ministries, 2006
- Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament, Oxford: Monarch Press; Downers Grove: IVP, 2006
- Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, IVP Academic, 2007
- Salvation Belongs to Our God: Celebrating the Bible’s Central Story, Global Christian Library, Nottingham: IVP; Christian Doctrine in Global Perspective, Downers Grove: IVP, 2008
- The God I Don’t Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009
- Mission of Gods People The (Biblical Theology for Life), Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010