What do Christians hope for? To leave this wicked world and go to 'heaven'? For the 'kingdom of God' to grow gradually on earth? What do we mean by the 'resurrection of the body', and how does that fit with the popular image of sitting on clouds playing harps? And how does all this affect the way we live in the here and now?Tom Wright, one of our leading theologians, addresses these questions in this provocative and wide-ranging new book. He outlines the present confusion about future hope in both church and world. Then, having explained why Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus himself, he explores the biblical hope for 'new heavens and new earth', and shows how the 'second coming' of Jesus, and the eventual resurrection, belong within that larger picture, together with the intermediate hope for 'heaven'. 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' 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.It is intended for readers of Tom Wright's other books, such as "Simply Christian" and "Evil and the Justice of God".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Tom Wright is Bishop of Durham and is a regular broadcaster on radio and television. He is the author of over forty books, including the popular For Everyone guides to the New Testament and the magisterial series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God.
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More About the Author
N.T. Wright is Bishop of Durham and was formerly Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. Wright's full-scale works The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God are part of a projected six-volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God. Among his many other published works are The Original Jesus, What Saint Paul Really Said and The Climax of the Covenant. He is also coauthor with Marcus Borg of The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions and the volume on Colossians and Philemon in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
N.T. Wright at his Best,
This review is from: Surprised by Hope (Paperback)
For three months in the summer of 2004, I labored through N.T. Wright's massive book, The Resurrection of the Son of God - an important work for anyone interested in the historical evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Resurrection of the Son of God significantly deepened my appreciation for Easter. Wright's research bolstered my confidence in the historicity of the New Testament accounts, but more than that, it helped me to understand why the Resurrection was necessary and why it is so important to Christian theology.
Needless to say, I was happy to discover that Wright was working on an edited, popular-level supplement to The Resurrection of the Son of God. Fast forward to 2008. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church has been released, a sequel of sorts to Simply Christian. (And yes, the allusions to C.S. Lewis' works Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy are an intentional advertising gimmick, although readers quickly discover that the comparisons to Lewis do have some merit.) In Surprised by Hope, Wright attempts to do three things. First, he exposes current Christianity's muddled views of the afterlife by taking us through the historical evidence for and the theological explanation of Jesus' resurrection. Second, he answers questions regarding eschatology that necessarily arise from his Resurrection theology - showing how his eschatological framework best fits the New Testament witness. Third, he shows how the Christian's future hope of resurrection forms the foundation for current social action, evangelism, and spirituality. For those familiar with Wright's previous work on the resurrection, Surprised by Hope will not surprise you (no pun intended). For years now, Wright has been advocating a return to a more biblical, more creation-centered, more Jewish understanding of the future hope of new heavens and new earth. Other theologians have been speaking up about this subject too, in hopes that a more robust view of heaven will reenergize our Kingdom efforts on earth. (Michael Wittmer's Heaven Is a Place on Earth and Randy Alcorn's textbook-styled Heaven come to mind.) But Surprised by Hope stands out in the amount of material that Wright is able to incorporate into a single volume and in the moving way in which he makes his case. This book carries an emotional resonance rarely encountered among works of theology. At times, Wright's description of the Christian hope so moved me that I found myself wiping away tears. Surprised by Hope contains many paradoxes, which is what we have come to expect from a theologian like Wright. Here are a few examples: Wright argues forcefully for Christ's bodily resurrection (to the "Amens" of his conservative readers), but then shows why that must necessarily inform our view of the Christian's future hope (and the picture is significantly different [i.e. grander!] than what conservatives have generally taught). He devotes significant space to eschatology, firmly disagreeing with the Preterist position, while admitting that Jesus' prophecies concerned the Fall of Jerusalem. Dispensationalists will not countenance his interpretation of Revelation or Daniel, and yet Amillennialists will be surprised by his refusal to spiritualize the Kingdom in ways that detract from an earthy application. Reformed readers will have trouble with Wright's "New Perspective on Paul" that surfaces in a couple of places, and yet they will applaud his Kuyperian stance on the lordship of Christ over all creation. Roman Catholics will disagree with Wright's decisive rejection of purgatory and praying to the saints, but some Protestants may be equally puzzled about Wright leaving room for Christians to pray for the dead (not for their salvation, mind you, but only for their rest!) Traditionalists will be glad to see Wright rejecting universalism and affirming the existence of hell, and yet, Wright's innovative view of hell (in terms of dehumanization) is more akin to C.S. Lewis than to anything clearly taught in Scripture. (Wright's view serves as middle way between annihilationism and the traditional view of eternal torment.) Pastors would do well to read the final chapters of Surprised by Hope. Wright gives food for thought on the nature of mission work and evangelism. He also offers practical advice on reinvigorating our anemic Easter celebrations. Surprised by Hope will be one of Wright's most widely-read books. Though readers should proceed with caution regarding some of Wright's proposals, the wheat in this book far outweighs the chaff.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed by Hope,
By Robin (North Africa) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Surprised by Hope (Paperback)
The back cover of "Surprised by Hope" states that the book is "lively and accessible". In my view this is over-optimistic, and may reflect a widening gap between the expectations of ordinary believers and the output of theologians generally. The book contains complex ideas and the style, although not academic, is at times plodding. As regards content, Tom Wright makes an interesting critique of several common beliefs held by western Christians as regards salvation and the future. However, the alternatives he presents are far from being clear-cut, and at the end one wonders if we are really better off. It is akin to the captain of a ship taking us out of a safe (if imperfect) harbour on the promise that we will we arrive somewhere better - a great surprise. But as the journey comes to an end, we still seem to be floating offshore, not entirely sure of our bearings.
4.0 out of 5 stars
good book,
This review is from: Surprised by Hope (Paperback)
Very much like this book. The author puts into words what I believe the Bible teaches about the resurrection of Jesus and how it affects Christians. Every Christian should read it to gain a clearer understanding about the second coming of Christ.
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