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Kuhrt, S. (2011) Tom Wright for Everyone. SPCK Church growth through the full welcome of Children: The Sssh Free Church viii In the OT 'son of God ' referred , in the first instance, to Israel herself (Exodus 4.22 Hosea 11.1) and then to her representative Messiah (2sam7:14; Ps 2:7; 89.27). Son of God' as a title for Jesus, was one therefore that initially spoke of him having a crucial role in God's purposes rather than indicating a divine being. It also contained an important element of polemic against a pagan culture in which the phrase son of god was commonly used to refer to the roman emperor. ( what Paul really said pp70, challenge of Jesus 52; 79; Simply Christian p. 100?; Paul fresh p 48 ... Pp 53 The last thing any tyrant or emperor would feel threatened by were Gnostic Christians reading the ' Gospel of Thomas' or 'Gospel of Judas', whose 'hope' had become that of a disembodied escape from the world rather than being part of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven' 56 Christian prayer, rather than enabling people to be heard by a distant deity, forms the vital means of the inner life of God, which we will share in the future, being able to enter into he present lives of Christian believers 63 Through the power of its retelling of the mighty acts of God, from creation to new creation, the bible is able confront undermine and replace alternative world-views with their rival narratives and authority claims. 63 TW has argued that evangelism flourishes best when the church displays such advance signs of God's new creation because it is then embodying the salvation that it is offering to people. 78 Broader context: an understanding of the gospel as the proclamation that Jesus is lord because, through his death and resurrection , the powers of evil have been defeated and God's new world has begun.... Ensured that preaching upon the cross has focussed on the death of Jesus as God's answer to evil rather than simply 'my' personal sin. 81 Justification by faith redefined as being principally about ecclesiology (how we should recognise the church) rather than soteriology ( how we are saved) 52