Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church - N. T. Wright

Heaven is important but it's not the end of the world.

Wright's fantastic book "addresses two questions that have often been dealt with entirely separately but that, I passionately believe, belong tightly together. 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" (5).

Wright expands our understanding of salvation to be more incarnational, and in doing so, vastly increases its significance in the present: "the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us" (200).

Jesus' resurrection is the key. Redefining Jesus' resurrection to be merely "spiritual" or "symbolic" empties it of its significance: "if after his death he had gone into some kind of nonbodily existence, death would not be defeated. It would remain intact; it would merely be redescribed" (99).

God's salvation results in "the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23) wherein "God's people are promised a new type of bodily existence, the fulfillment and redemption of our present bodily life" (147). According to Jewish expectation, the new earth will be filled with the glory of God. Creation - including our humanity - is not discarded by God, but restored and renewed.

This is a desperately needed book in our current gnostic climate. Many Christians have followed the spirit of the age and set the spiritual over against the material. In contrast, Christianity sees the spiritual in and through material. The truth that in Christ, the Word became flesh is God's "yes" to creation and humanity.

We need to recover a robust incarnational spirituality. Wright's reflections on the significance of the resurrection in regard to heaven and earth, our present experience, our full humanity, and the relationship of space, time, and matter to the Divine are accessible and outstanding! In order to preserve and perpetuate a distinctly Christian spirituality, every believer should purchase and study this book. This book has my highest recommendation!