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

by N.T. Wright

book data

249 ratings, 4.37 average rating, 81 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		51%
4		35%
3		11%
2		1%
1		0%

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published

February 1st 2008 by HarperOne

binding

Hardcover, 352 pages

isbn

0061551821 (isbn13: 9780061551826)

description

For years Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been gi

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06/16/08

Skylar Burris rated it:

bookshelves: christianity, nonfiction, religion

Read in January, 2009

Would you be surprised if someone said that Christianity does not teach that the soul goes to heaven when a Christian dies? In "Surprised By Hope," N.T. Wright tries to set non-Christians, but especially uninformed Christians, straight about what orthodox Christianity really teaches about life after death (or, more accurately, "life after life after death.")

The modern popular notions of heaven, the soul, and the "after life" often shared by Christians a...more

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2 comments

01/12/09

Douglas Wilson rated it:

bookshelves: personal-development, theology

Read in April, 2008

Most of this book was superb, and parts were atrocious.

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09/30/08

Jonathan rated it:

bookshelves: theology

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Jonathan by: Christianity Today
recommends it for: anyone interested in questions of life and death

Surprised by Hope deals with two questions: What does the ultimate future look like? And how should we live in the present in light of that future?

Personally, I wasn’t that “surprised” about Wright’s description of the future because it meshes well with my own views. It would come as more of a surprise to someone who holds to the Premillenial/Pretribulation eschatology of dispensationalists like Tim LaHaye (who made the popular “Left Behind” movies).

While Wrig...more

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3 comments

07/10/08

Melinda added it

Uh, like WOW. If you're not into theology because you think it will be dry and boring, try NT Wright. Not that it isn't a bit of a challenge, but with some concentration, you will be richly rewarded. He opened up things I have believed in and about all my life, yet put such a fresh perspective on it for me. Changed my perception on many things. I need to follow this up with a discussion group - to help get it more into my living, breathing, everyday life, and to add the dimension of acting ...more

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11/20/08

Jeff rated it:

I recently finished reading Lionel Basney's little book, An Earth-Careful Way of Life: Christian Stewardship and the Environmental Crisis, and I moved immediately to N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. I love how the two connect. Wright's reason for writing Surprised by Hope is to counter ages-old misconceptions about what kind of a "place" heaven is. With a host of other observers, Wright observes that the less your idea...more I recently finished reading Lionel Basney's little book, An Earth-Careful Way of Life: Christian Stewardship and the Environmental Crisis, and I moved immediately to N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. I love how the two connect. Wright's reason for writing Surprised by Hope is to counter ages-old misconceptions about what kind of a "place" heaven is. With a host of other observers, Wright observes that the less your idea of heaven connects with earth, the less you are likely to care for the earth. Why bother, if its all going to burn, and besides, what really matters are our spirits, right? Wrong, and shockingly so.

Basney offers a hopeful little commentary on the relationship between nature and culture that defies easy categorization. He covers a lot of important ground, explaining why our connection to the earth, not vaguely but in actually touching dirt in the growing of productive gardens, enables us to a fuller humanness. He has all kinds of potential to sound off prophetically about the wasteful ways most American Christians consume in blissful and self-centered ignorance. But for the most part, he contains his cynicism and stays hopeful. Hopeful for a world that turns upside down, mostly through local communities and their growing connections to earth. He also avoids any hint of pantheistic earth-worship that worries many Christians about their friends who are "into the environment."

Wright’s contribution to the conversation is primarily in reminding us that the weight of scripture points to a future in which earth and heaven are reunited. He spends quite a bit of energy countering the popular notion that heaven consists of an existence that is ethereal, or non-material, drawing on C.S. Lewis’s description of heaven as a place where our bodies are actually “more solid, more real” than they were on earth. Again, if this is so, and if this earth will be transformed rather than burned up, then Basney is right to encourage us to get to work on this transformation of the earth.

If you’ve paid attention to some of the work that Calvin students and faculty have been up to over the past few years, you will recognize in these projects (rain gardens, native plantings, invasive species reduction efforts, LEED certification programs, and re-forestation projects to name a few) you will recognize the influence of contemporary prophets like Lionel Basney and N.T. Wright.
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04/14/09

Adam rated it:

Read in August, 2008

I thought this was a very important book. As with some other articles of his that I have read, he tends to over play his argument a bit, but in summary he thinks that we spend too much time thinking about heaven and not enough time living on earth. He posits (and I think there is a good bit of support for) the fact that there will be a new Heaven and Earth and that the resurrection will have us on the new Earth living and working for Christ without sin, as God originally intended. He suggests...more

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01/25/09

Pattieb rated it:

Read in January, 2009

NT Wright is a bishop in the Anglican church and an influential theologian.

Surprised by Hope explores the truly biblical concept of what happens after we die (going temporarily to a place we call heaven, then to the re-created, redeemed heavens and earth) and how the reality of that affects our lives now.

Wright's purpose is to shake Christians away from the pie-in-the-sky idea of heaven that causes us to lose interest in this world. His theology centers on the significan...more

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01/08/09

Mwebel rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in January, 2009

recommended to Mwebel by: Bill Gorman

After 20 years of feeling that I had a decent idea of what happened to us after we die, this book left me reeling. I realized that almost all of my ideas of heaven and unity with God were based, not on the Bible, but on cultural conceptions. This book helped me understand the Biblical statement on what happens beyond the grave, and that in turn gives me a new hope. I hope this hope changes the way I approach this world, not just the way I perceive the life to come.

Another fascin...more

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04/29/09

Dan rated it:

This book is amazing. It takes the historical research of "The Resurrection of the Son of God" and translates it into a practical, relevant message about why a healthy understanding of the resurrection of Jesus (and related doctrines like the ascension) is crucial for the health and ministry of the church. Wright is an excellent writer and makes a compelling argument against two errors: (1) the triumphalism of more liberal churches who seek to bring about the kingdom of God through hum...more

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06/19/09

Ali Miller rated it:

Read in April, 2009

I've read some eye-opening and incredibly helpful books on theology before - but this has probably been the most challenging. There was a point where I struggled with the conventional (but ultimately inaccurate) perspectives Wright was making me let go of, but his insight has been invaluable for me when it comes to marrying the tension between the physical world and the spiritual one, our present and our future, the way we are now and the way we will be. It's precisely where these things interse...more

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01/16/09

Susan rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in December, 2008

Heaven is not the last stop on the spiritual trek -- Jesus is returning to renew THIS earth, and we're coming back with him, to live HERE. Sadly, Christians have lived as if 'it's all gonna burn' and we're going to run off to some other galaxy. Wright says what we do in our lives NOW does matter -- what jobs and relationships we pursue, caring for the earth and our fellows HERE, it all does matter. Kind of changes your paradigm. My husband is farther along than I am, but I am intrigued by what...more

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02/26/09

Holly rated it:

Read in September, 2008

I like a guy who gives a fresh take on what it means to be Christian today. He addresses the unbalance of wealth in the world and that global injustice is the number one moral issue of our day. It is eye opening for any Christian, I didn't think about too many of these points much until he develops an arguement that shows todays Christian is embarrassingly ignorant. However, I only gave it four stars because of the tangents he goes on, I wish he would have dealt with each issue and move to the...more

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07/29/08

Dean Simmer rated it:

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Bob, Thomas...everyone, really

Bravo to Bishop Wright for such a great book. As is his forte, he mixes theological study with the practical implications, which creates a great text for those at several reading levels.

The first half of the book is a theological and historical look at heaven and the resurrection. Wright delves into the Scriptures, emphasizing Pauline and Gospel emphasis on a New Heaven and a New Earth. He talks in depth about the New Earth and how Western Christians have really warped the understand...more

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06/18/08

Ruben rated it:

bookshelves: 2009

Read in January, 2009

Recommended to all who think they know.

I was just saying to myself, after trudging through the first hundred pages for several weeks, that Christian books are so obvious. It's like, I get it, I already got it, and then the book goes on and on for another 200 pages. But here N.T. Wright is pointing out all these misconceptions that we have about heaven, salvation, the afterlife and our present lives. This book really picks up scope and intensity as it goes along. I'm still trying ...more

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06/06/08

Jeremy rated it:

Read in May, 2008

Bishop Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham in England, writes a masterful book on the resurrection, afterlife and the future of our world. He spends the first few chapters analyzing the Western church's understanding that our goal is to "get to heaven" and explains how this is an incorrect view in light of the Bible. What the Bible tells us is at the end, there will be a renewed heaven and a renewed earth and they will become one. In other words, heaven is great, but it isn't the end of the...more

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06/03/08

David rated it:

bookshelves: bible, theology

Read in February, 2009

NT Wright works hard to get across the point that the ultimate goal of Christianity is not to simply go to heaven when you die but rather to rise to new life, of which Jesus' resurrection is the "firstfruits" in a new heaven and new earth. Numerous biblical texts (1 Corinthians 15, Revelation 21-22, the gospel accounts of resurrection, etc.) teach this truth but have either been reinterpreted in much of modern (evangelical) Christianity to mean "going to heaven" or ignored ...more

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05/14/08

Collin rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2008

It's an interesting thing, to read a book from someone of a different tradition of faith (Wright is an Anglican, while I am Mormon, more or less). There are passages here that may be radical to an Anglican, but are "Yeah, and?" moments for me. Likewise occasionally he'll casually throw out things that are probably obvious to other Anglicans but for which I'd like a stronger explanation. Fortunately there are 2 points which have eased my mind about his frame of reference. One, Wrigh...more

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05/06/08

Phil rated it:

Read in April, 2008

This is a great book, and a valuable book, in many ways. NT Wright packages together neatly some of his most important points about Christianity that he has a unique ability to understand and articulate. I also think it is one of his best written books so far.
The book can be thought of as centering around the basic question: what is the Christian hope? For Wright, this is a question that is vastly misunderstood within Christianity these days, and consequently misunderstood outside of Chr...more This is a great book, and a valuable book, in many ways. NT Wright packages together neatly some of his most important points about Christianity that he has a unique ability to understand and articulate. I also think it is one of his best written books so far.
The book can be thought of as centering around the basic question: what is the Christian hope? For Wright, this is a question that is vastly misunderstood within Christianity these days, and consequently misunderstood outside of Christianity as well. What we've lost is an awareness of the significance of bodily resurrection, and the entire renewal and restoration of the created reality that, according to the New Testament, goes with it. By overemphasizing individual salvation, we've forgotten or distorted the total scheme that it fits into, making Christianity into religion that is all about "getting into heaven," understood in a vague and spiritual sense. He argues that many "conservative" Christians, who firmly believe in the resurrection of Jesus, don't grasp the total significance of it, seeing it only as a sort of proof that Jesus is divine, or that there is "life after death" after all. But, for the early Christians, the resurrection of Jesus meant much more than this. For one, it meant that God's kingdom had already begun: evil had been defeated and God's promises to restore the world through Israel were coming about. This meant that there is work for us to do in the present, work towards building that kingdom. It also meant that a redemption of the whole creation had begun.
This second part is something that Wright focuses on quite a bit. One of the major consequences our misapprehending of resurrection, according to Wright, is that we no longer appreciate the scope of the project that God is engaging in, nor do we understand the importance of creation itself, including the fact that we ourselves are creatures. We've made everything about salvation of individual souls, which we've over-spiritualized, forgetting that God intends to redeem our bodies and all of creation, to renew the actual space-time universe so that, eventually, humanity and creation will be the glorious thing that they were always intended to be, reflecting God's wisdom, beauty, and love. Jesus's resurrected body, described in the gospels, is a for-taste of this, the future reality breaking into the present and giving us an image of what it will be like for all of those in Christ when the final resurrection occurs. Indeed, Wright argues that it was the apostles' (including Paul's) experience of this risen Christ that so consistently focused and oriented their vision of the future hope for the world. Using this observation, Wright works into the book a summary his powerful argument for the historical truth of the resurrection.
According to Wright, a proper understanding of the Christian hope clears up a lot of difficulties that people have had in terms of the whole supposed dichotomy between "saving souls" on the one hand, and "doing good works" on the other. Wright makes the important point that these two are not in opposition, nor is one simply a means to the other. We don't get saved simply to do good works, nor do we do good works to get saved. Rather, the two go together as part of the project of redemption that God is engaged in. The difficulty in seeing this starts, Wright argues, when we disconnect our salvation from the reality we live in. And Wright's alternative isn't the "social gospel" because it is all a work accomplished by God's Spirit, through his people, to defeat the powers of evil in the world.
One question was on my mind throughout reading this book: how accurate is Wright's assessment of our misunderstandings? Well, I've found that most good Christian writers and theologians at least have a grasp of the fact of bodily resurrection, and a restored creation, as being our ultimate hope, though sometimes it seems to be a neglected area of discussion. Perhaps the same cannot be said about some preachers--say, your average bible thumping fundamentalist (I sometimes get the sense of this being what Wright has in mind when he criticizes modern conservative Christianity). I think he's definitely right that those outside of the church rarely have any comprehension of the reality of Christian hope, and that this is our fault and is a serious problem. How can such a central part of our message fail to come across? Christianity believes in something that is so unique, so different from what is hoped by other religions (or belief systems in general), and is so fundamentally good, that it is a scandal that so few people are aware of the possibility of this hope. I think he's right on that this should be emphasized more: a world without disease, without death, without war or hatred, a world of beauty and love, filled with people who rejoice in these things, each other, and God--if we hope for these things, why don't more people do not know about it?
At the same time, as wonderful as it will be, a restored creation and cosmos really is only a consequence of a restored relationship with God. That is, and always should be, at the center of what Christianity offers (though admittedly it's hard to understand, and easy to misunderstand, the latter without at least some grasp of what is meant by the former). We have to desire God first; Wright obviously realizes this, but often when he criticizes the modern Christianity hope as being Gnostic, I feel like it is a bit of a caricature. There is a world of difference between what Gnostics believe and what is believed by your average (slightly misinformed) Christian, who may not have the same biblical vision of future resurrection and the new creation that Wright has. I feel like an injustice is being done to the genuine love of the true God that many people have, the beautiful vision of him that they hope for, in the desire to "be at home with him" that is at the center of of the hope of many Christians who might not be able to articulate Wright's orthodox understanding of the new creation. Wright obviously intends no such injustice, and even goes out of his way to address such fears, but I think perhaps more could have been said about this.
I think this book was so good, though, that I'll be reading it again!
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01/09/08

Rob rated it:

Read in January, 2008

What is the Christian's hope? To go to heaven? To be forgiven of their sins? To live again after death?

N.T. Wright says that the Christian hope is in the resurrection of the body--the very body we now inhabit. Jesus' disciples found his tomb empty, not because he had gone on to a disembodied existence, but because the same body that had been crucified was raised.

This fact, which Wright attempts to show was historically plausible, should make a difference in how we live ...more

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07/02/08

Alana rated it:

Read in September, 2008

There are few Christian books these days that can make me sit up and take notice... this is one of them. Up to this point I had purposely shied away from in-depth study about heaven/life after death, because of the divisions this kind of debate can and has caused in the church (Armageddon, the rapture, pre/post-millenialism, doomsday prophecies, etc. - bleh). This book, however, was wonderfully refreshing. N.T. Wright looks at the overall Biblical view of this topic - in other words, he doesn...more

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"The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom." More quotes...