Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

I loved N.T. Wright's newest book, Surprised by Hope. He explores the meat of the Christian hope, what he calls the after-afterlife. Wright addresses the misconceptions (a.k.a. bad theology) that's infiltrated not just the world (i.e. reincarnation), but also Christianity (i.e. when we all get to heaven). The belief in Jesus' physical resurrection is on the line here, folks. If you believe in Jesus' physical resurrection, if you believe that he is the firstfruits, than you have to believe that we do will experience that physical resurrection. The whole earth (which now groans) will experience it. Wright turns the gospel message upside-down. No, he turns how we talk about the gospel message upside-down. It begins with an overarching story--God's plan of redemption for all of creation. Within that, individual salvation fits. He then talks about why it's important in the here and now, in areas such as justice, art, and evangelism (are you getting a feel for why I'm passionate about this?). He's hard on all sides. Somehow Wright is one of the few people who can point out the faults of everyone specifically (moderns, you're doing this; postmoderns, you're doing this; liberals, you're doing this; conservatives, you're doing this) and still be liked by all parties. Personally, I'm a dispensationalist (which means, in my view, that Wright and I may disagree on some middle stuff, but we absolutely agree on the end, we absolutely agree that this end is the important part, and we absolutely agree on our present course of action). Wright's hard on dispensationalist (and for good reason). I will say that he has a generalized and limited view on dispensationalist. Maybe he understands more but for simplicity's sake boils it down. Maybe he only hear's the loudest dispensationalist (with whom I probably don't agree). But that's beside the point to me. The point is, Jesus' resurrection leads to the resurrection (redemption) of the world, and somehow our participation in God's kingdom work in the present contributes to that (although it doesn't bring it about--God brings it about). I recommend this book for a solid look at eschatology and its integral part to our daily theology.

I remember reading through N. T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God last spring and thinking about how critical it is to the Church today to have a revitalization of her understanding of resurrection, heaven, and eschatology as a whole. As I read this book I lamented all the errors of eschatological thought and teaching in the Church. I loved the book and I wanted all of the Church to read it. But at its daunting 800+ pages, I knew that its impact on the Church would be limited. I wanted the book to be smaller and more accessible. I longed for the book to reappear in another, shorter form. This spring, when Wright's Surprised by Hope came out, I got my wish. This book is simply marvelous. Wright begins by noting the confusion throughout the world right now regarding questions about life after death. He talks about how this confusion has seeped into the Church. We in the Church have, for long time now, forgotten what the Bible actually teaches about heaven, hell, and the resurrection. We have settled for an escapist eschatology that sees the ultimate purpose for humanity as being sucked into the sky for some disembodied eternal bliss. This eschatology, or lack of, has been horribly detrimental to the Church. It has taught us to either flee from the realms of ecology and social justice because God is concerned about the "spiritual" and not the physical (Conservative Protestantism) or to care about them without much good theological reason (mainline Protestantism). If we want to actually appreciate, care and love creation and each other, then a reworking of our eschatology is in order. This is not simply a question about millennial views, it is a question about how we view the world, it is about the cornerstone of our faith, the resurrection of Jesus. We must first ask the question, `Did Jesus rise from the dead?' and, if he did what does it mean? Wright answers the first with a resounding yes. This does not mean that he proves the resurrection beyond a shadow of a doubt. He knows that this appeals to history, but is appeals to so much more: "What I am suggesting is that faith in Jesus risen from the dead transcends but includes what we call history and what we call science. Faith of this sort is not blind belief, which rejects all history and science. Nor is it simply - which would be much safer! - a belief that inhabits a totally different sphere, discontinuous from either, in a separate watertight compartment. Rather, this kind of faith, which like all modes of knowledge is defined by the nature of its object, is faith in the creator God, the God who promised to put all things to rights at the last, the God who (as a sharp point where those two come together) raised Jesus from the dead within history, leaving evidence that demands an explanation from the scientist as well as anybody else." (p.71-72) I appreciate both his commitment to orthodox Christianity and his denial of the rationalism of the Enlightenment project. He proposes a n

Friends call him "Tom" -- and, at this point, Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright has friends around the world, eagerly looking for his next visit and his next book. There's an air of C.S. Lewis about the bishop of Durham. Nearly a decade ago, he became a sensation among American journalists for touring the country with Marcus Borg, the two of them cast as a pair of dueling Bible scholars and co-authors of a still very popular book, "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions." What drew headlines coast to coast was that, in each city along their tour, the crowds were larger than anyone envisioned. I recall reporting on this myself, double checking to make sure the claims were true -- that thousands of people, rather than hundreds, were hungry to hear truly gifted scholars debate details of Jesus' life and ministry. That year, Borg played the provocateur, skeptical about many traditional claims concerning Jesus. However, since that time, Borg's own path has veered right into what he calls "The Heart of Christianity" and his recent books are read by thousands of regular churchgoers across the U.S. That year, Tom Wright played what I can best describe as the C.S. Lewis role. In many of Tom's books, he even writes in Lewis' nuts-and-bolts voice and measured cadence. Many Americans may have forgotten the role Lewis played as a Christian titan in the popular media of his era. In his heyday, before "The Chronicles of Narnia" eclipsed everything else he wrote, Lewis was famous as "a Christian apologist," meaning that he'd go anywhere and stand toe to toe with anyone to defend his orthodox view of the faith. The truth about this more recent pairing is that Wright and Borg both studied at Oxford and both share a passion for grappling with both the latest historical research into the biblical record -- and a passion for stirring up the church into a vigorous force for change in the world. The two "foes" still disagree on many points, but they're getting closer and closer to an all-out, rabble-rousing appeal to the Christian church to rise up, take a daring step away from its all-too-individualistic focus on saving "my" soul. They both want to see Christians creatively dive into the work of healing this broken world. What's Tom saying now that's so daring and urgent? There's no way to fully capture a book so full of fascinating insights as "Surprised by Hope" in just a couple of lines. But, hey, I'm a trained journalist, so I'm going to try. Before we turn to our Q and A with Tom himself, here are a few lines from his new book that I think suggest the daring voice that speaks from this volume. By the time these lines appear in Tom's book (around page 200), he already has argued that Christians have a sadly muddled view of what the Bible and classical Christianity teach about resurrection, heaven and the mission of the church. One core stone in that foundation is that we are called, not to focus on escaping from evil bodies and an evil Earth into a heavenly realm -- bu

The title is thought catching, especially in view of the inferences aroused by the similarity with other titles of other good books. This book is a great summary exposition of Early Christian understanding of Heaven. Sometimes it requires careful attention to follow the thought process. We read it aloud and it was a glorious experience. It is thought transforming and a wonderful antidote to the sentimental, airy-fairy way in which heaven has been thought of or discussed for a very long time. The summary thought that I understood goes something like this: Wright reaffirms that God made a good world. It is not a disposable world. Heaven will gather up all the good that people have contributed through the ages (recognized or unrecognized) and add that material to another transforming and creative act that will enable Jesus to rule and for this world to become the good world God originally created. THe destiny of those who believe God is to be able to participate in that forever.

This is the finest articulation of what the Bible and Earliest Christians ACTUALLY hoped for. In terms of theology and scripture study truly intersecting and informing our "everyday lives"...there is none like this book. This book gives us a weighty answer to the question, "What, ultimately, do we hope for in response to death?" This might prove to be the most important book Wright gives to pastors, Christian teachers, and followers of Jesus. I've read all of his others...and, they all certainly have their own unique place and voice (especially his big Christian Origins series)...but, there is something about this one. Maybe it is the scope...maybe it is how alarmingly (and probably scarily for some) practical it is...to those of us still soaked in the idea that God's end game is "souls escaping the world for Heaven's clouds" it may seem so foreign...to those of us who have embraced a God who is more concerned with Reshaping, Restoring and Resurrecting His Good World, it will be invigorating and energizing (especially for mission). What a task! Wright wrote a book about what we can and must ultimately hope for: a good world fully restored. We are all indebted to N. T. Wright for this masterpiece.