Surprised by Hope
Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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4.2 • 111 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
For years Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Award-winning author N. T. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright, who is one of today's premier Bible scholars, asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection. He provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus and shows how this became the cornerstone for the Christian community's hope in the bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the age. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth," revealing what happens to the dead until then and what will happen with the "second coming" of Jesus. For many, including many Christians, all this will come as a great surprise. Wright convincingly argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death. For if God intends to renew the whole creation—and if this has already begun in Jesus's resurrection—the church cannot stop at "saving souls" but must anticipate the eventual renewal by working for God's kingdom in the wider world, bringing healing and hope in the present life. Lively and accessible, this book will surprise and excite all who are interested in the meaning of life, not only after death but before it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wright, one of the greatest, and certainly most prolific, Bible scholars in the world, will touch a nerve with this book. What happens when we die? How should we think about heaven, hell, purgatory and eternal life? Wright critiques the views of heaven that have become regnant in Western culture, especially the assumption of the continuance of the soul after death in a sort of blissful non-bodily existence. This is simply not Christian teaching, Wright insists. The New Testament's clear witness is to the resurrection of the body, not the migration of the soul. And not right away, but only when Jesus returns in judgment and glory. The "paradise," the experience of being "with Christ" spoken of occasionally in the scriptures, is a period of waiting for this return. But Christian teaching of life after death should really be an emphasis on "life after life after death"-the resurrection of the body, which is also the ground for all faithful political action, as the last part of this book argues. Wright's prose is as accessible as it is learned-an increasingly rare combination. No one can doubt his erudition or the greatness of the churchmanship of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. One wonders, however, at the regular citation of his own previous work. And no other scholar can get away so cleanly with continuing to propagate the "hellenization thesis," by which the early church is eventually polluted by contaminating Greek philosophical influence.
Customer Reviews
Well-Thought Book on Heaven
This book does a good job of providing a Biblical understanding of the life after death, especially for western readers who have lost perspective on some of these points. The best part of the book is the application of heaven theology to our current lives. It is the first time that I have read this particular take, but it is well thought out, encouraging, and challenging.
A Manifesto
This is perhaps the greatest call to action the church has ever heard, from arguably one of the foremost thinkers and spiritual leaders the world has ever known. N.T. Wright’s “Magnificat”, if you will….
Simply a MUST READ for all Christians!!
The Best Christian Book to Read!!!!
This book will hype you up in Christ!!!!!! The resurrection of Jesus was the initiation of new creation! It has all the topics of eschatology and life after death. This book is an exegetical marvel and should be required reading for all Bible college students. Let the world know, Jesus reigns!