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

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 352 pages
• Published by: HarperOne February 5, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0061551821
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0061551826
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

From 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.
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Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis
"This book is N.T. Wright at his finest."

Reader Reviews
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. Comments (4) | | (Report this)