Needed work from the right Theologian.

books:


	• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church N. T. Wright HarperOne, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Needed work from the right Theologian.

This excellent work from N. T. Wright is a more popular treatment of his message that started with his book "The Resurrection of the Son of God." In this work Wright emphasizes the hope of new creation through resurrection. There is currently a move away from the orthodox view of the bodily resurrection toward a more Platonic view that says that we die, our bodies stay in the grave, and we go to heaven and stay there in disembodied bliss. Wright, who is a great exegete, theologian, and historian sets the record straight about the resurrection of Jesus as well as the resurrection of all those in Christ. Wright shows how that new creation began at the resurrection of Jesus and how that we are to live in light of the resurrection, looking forward to new creation. I strongly recommend this work.

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Surprised by Surprised by Hope

"Surprised by Hope" is a briliant study, it challenged me to rethink some important issues like Heaven, Resurrection and Life after Death. Bible speaks clearlly about NEW heaven and NEW Earth, and the topic that we will have NEW bodies is often negelected issue influenced by our dualistic Greeak heritage. Understood rightly those concepts (Heaven, Bodily Resurrection, Ascension, New Creation) are challenging the mission of the Church today. N.T. Wright brings NEW hope into the understanding and interpretation of the Hope! You might be surprised!

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Traditional Orthodoxy and Eschatology

Surprised by Hope by Bishop N. T. Wright is a defense of the traditional eschatology of the mainstream church. Wright is quite eloquent and I always learn something when I read his books. This one is no exception. Here Wright journeys through the good, the bad, and the ugly landscape of current eschatology and compares it with his take on the beliefs of the early Christian believers. From time to time on this journey he ventures briefly onto more progressive roads-less-travelled, but (frustratingly for me!) he always retreats back into the safe haven of traditional orthodoxy. Wright does envision a future with hope - a hope based squarely in the resurrection of Christ - but he comes short of embracing the radical hope of a complete and ultimate cosmic renewal and unity in Christ, saying, "One cannot forever whistle 'There's a wideness in God's mercy' in the darkness of Hiroshima..." (p. 180). Those who still espouse that particular "wideness" will be disappointed by Wright's theory of hell: one in which sinners are stripped of their humanity and become "beings that were once human but now are not" who are "beyond hope" and "beyond pity" existing forever in "an ex-human state... no longer [exciting] in themselves or others the natural sympathy some feel even for the hardened criminal" (p. 182-183). This, despite the book's title, is not the kind of hope that entails the glorious vision of God as "all in all".

There are hints of Jurgen Moltmann in Wright's thoughts and concepts, but the hope which surprises him is not nearly as startling and comprehensive as that put forth by Moltmann. Consider this from Moltmann's The Coming of God: "True hope must be universal, because its healing future embraces every individual and the whole universe. If we were to surrender hope for as much as one single creature, for us God would not be God." (p. 132). The parts of the book that reflected Moltmann were the most enjoyable to me.

Let me also add that one of my concerns in this book is Wright's caricature of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. It is either a caricature or Wright does not fully understand Teilhard. Chardin comes across in this book as something of a secular progressive who was looking starry-eyed into a glorious future accomplished by a godless evolution alone. This is simply not what Teilhard taught or believed.

Having mentioned a couple of my concerns, let me happily say that there are some great concepts and paragraphs throughout the book - too many for me to quote here. But I will indulge you with one on the subject of what Wright calls collaborative eschatology: "Because the early Christians believed that resurrection had begun with Jesus and would be completed in the great final resurrection on the last day, they believed that God had called them to work with him, in the power of the Spirit, to implement the achievement of Jesus and thereby to anticipate the final resurrection, in personal and political life, in mission and holiness. It was not merely that God had inaugurated the 'end'; if Jesus, the Messiah, was the End in person, God's-future-arrived-in-the-present, then those who belonged to Jesus and followed him and were empowered by his Spirit were charged with transforming the present, as far as they were able, in light of that future" (Page 46).

My take on the book is that it is very well written, it is a joy to read, and it will be especially appreciated by those who want to see an outstanding apologetic on orthodox amillennialism from a perspective they may not have encountered before.

As an even more hopeful companion to this volume, I would highly recommend William H. Willimon's newest book, Who Will Be Saved? (ISBN-10: 0687651190).

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Surprised by Hope

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.

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A great read

Yet again, NT Wright has written a provocative, mind stretching book that awakens for me a much more realistic resurrection hope for the people of God. It is easily readable but still deeply rooted in firm biblical traditions. His linking heaven and the resurrection with the mission of the church on earth raises the earthy role of the church to dizzying heights. Wonderful! Refreshing! Missionally inspiring!

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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