Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church

The Skinny

I love Wright. I do. But this book never convinced me. In fact, I think I was done reading it about two-thirds of the way through. Surprised By Hope could have been several chapters shorter than it is. Throughout, he simple repeats his point over and over again, in hopes of answering the several questions that will come from his somewhat audacious premise.

As much as it pains me to say, I really didn’t like the book. I didn’t like how it was written, I didn’t like what it said, and I didn’t like the thought processes. Hey, I’m just as surprised as you probably are. I expected to thoroughly enjoy the book.

One of the biggest problems I have is the idea that, because Christians have place their hope in an eternal heaven, they are less interested in taking care of the world here and now. While I see the could be a line of thinking for some people, it’s certainly not the main thought. Wright paints  with painful repetition) Christians as people ready to allow the current world to fall to pieces. The two problems I have with this thinking is: If a Christian is truly born again, he/she will appreciate creation to the same degree Jesus does. Thus, the discord of the world, nature, and humanity will not sit well with Christians, and they will never be able to stand pat completely. They will relish the moments of beauty (the hints of heavenly harmony) and be frustrated with (and work to change) the contamination of the world. Besides, whether one believes God will redeem this world, or whether he will take us to a different place, doesn’t seem that it would change the mentality that suggests this current world is not worth caring for. It’s either going to be re-made or removed.

Given that, it almost seems as though Wright is suggesting that Heaven on Earth will be brought about by the hands of Christians and their obedience. If that is what he is saying, I could not disagree more. Heaven can no more be brought into fruition here on Earth by humans than Jesus’ physical body could have been raised by the humans. God is the ultimate redeemer of sin. And as the traditional teaching goes, the sinful, carnal nature must die… otherwise, Jesus’ death and resurrection should mean we never die (after all, the debt of death was paid.) The elimination of our carnal bodies seem to be symbolic of a similar purging of the Earth… and thus our hope of resurrection can too be symbolic of a “New Earth.”  Besides, what about the ways God has said he will destroy the Earth “with fire” and the many Revelation references.

While I normally enjoy books that make me ask “well, what about…”, the best of those books are able to give me a solid view for an answer. With this book, I didn’t experience that.

There are many interesting viewpoints and thought patterns represented in this book. It’s written in a scholarly style. But he stated his point very early, and kept banging on that point throughout the book in, what was for me, a non-convincing sort of way. I’m sure there are many who will eat it up, but I found myself struggling to get across the finish line.

A shame too, I really do like Mr. Wright and his writings… usually.

Notable Quotes:

“First, what is the ultimate Christian hope? Second, what hope is there for change, rescue, transformation, new possibilities within the world in the present? And the main answer can be put like this. As long as we see Christian hope in terms of “going to heaven,” of a salvation that is essentially away from this world, the two questions are bound to appear as unrelated..”

…

“Heaven and earth, it seems, are not after all poles apart, needing to be separated forever when all the children of heaven have been rescued from this wicked earth. Nor are they simply different ways of looking at the same thing, as would be implied by some kinds of pantheism. No, they are different, radically different, but they are made for each other in the same way (Revelation is suggesting) as male and female. And when they finally come together, that will be cause for rejoicing in the same way that a wedding is:”

…

“But then, by derivation from this primary meaning, heaven is the place where God’s purposes for the future are stored up. It isn’t where they are meant to stay so that one would need to go to heaven to enjoy them; it is where they are kept safe against the day when they will become a reality on earth. If I say to a friend, “I’ve kept some beer in the fridge for you,” that doesn’t mean that he has to climb into the fridge in order to drink the beer. God’s future inheritance, the incorruptible new world and the new bodies that are to inhabit that world, are already kept safe, waiting for us, not so that we can go to heaven and put them on there but so that they can be brought to birth in this world or rather in the new heavens and new earth, the renewed world of which I spoke earlier.”

…

“So the objection about us trying to build God’s kingdom by our own efforts, though it seems humble and pious, can actually be a way of hiding from responsibility, of keeping one’s head well down when the boss is looking for volunteers.

Quotes from Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright do not reflect my personal views.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Buy The Book

In Surprised by Hope, Wright challenges our ideas about what, or more accurately, where Heaven is. His case is that the traditional Christian thought that Heaven is “up there” or that is in some way, somewhere else is misplaced. Using Jesus and his resurrection as the model and starting point, Wright tries to lay out the case that Heaven is, can be, or will be here on Earth. That God will redeem this world in the same way he redeemed Christ. Further, he sets out to reveal how misplacing our hope in somewhere else has hampered and crippled our view of taking care of the world.

Purchasing this book from this site is like leaving me a small tip.  Buy it here and Support my Candid Christianity! Thanks!