It may be too early to say for sure but it seems quite possible to me that N. T. Wright may be the next Martin Luther.
Luther shot across the bow of the church with his understanding of justification found in his reading of Romans.
Wright is reading Romans with fresh eyes in our day. He presents a view of justification that is not a traditional Protestant reading, nor a traditional Catholic reading.
Wright has a significant amount of work with the question of what Paul means by certain phrases in the Book of Romans. These words/phrases include "The Law", "justification" and "righteousness of God". Wright's conclusions are significant for the church's understanding of Romans and Galatians. This corrective is already sending shockwaves through the Reformed community which is committed to reading Romans through the lenses of John Calvin. Wright sends waves through the Lutheran community who reads Romans in a "Lutheran" way.
Dr. Wright is an impressive scholar. If you have seen the recent specials on National Geographic channel, Biography channel A&E and other channels you have seen him single handedly take on the liberal scholars of the Jesus seminar.
Let me add a personal note. I had the pleasure of meeting NT Wright in April 2001. He was Canon at Westminster at that time. He preached the Evensong service to a nearly empty congregation made up mostly of tourists. It was the week after Easter and Wright delivered the best sermon on the resurrection of Jesus that I have ever heard. That wasn't all that impressed me, though. I was most impressed that Dr. Wright took the time to talk with me when I met him in the line after the service. He took about 10 minutes in fact. He asked me about my background and why I had come to see him in London (all the way from California). At the end, he took time to lay hands on me and pray for my future ministry.
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