God's Homecoming: The Forgotten Promise of Future Renewal

by N.T. Wright

Many devout believers have been lured into the classic misunderstanding that Christianity teaches how we must leave earth and go somewhere else to be with God. But this outlook dangerously suggests that God created a world he loves only to abandon it. Nothing could be further from the scriptural truth, N. T. Wright contends. In God’s Homecoming, Wright excavates the forgotten story of God’s original purpose to dwell with us and make his home—and ours—in this new creation.

In his groundbreaking Surprised by Hope, Wright dismantled the “going to heaven” narrative. In God’s Homecoming, he returns with a panoramic pilgrimage tracing God’s homecoming promise from Genesis through Revelation. When we read the Bible as a whole, Wright argues, we do not find a narrative of souls ascending a spiritual ladder to heaven, but of God coming down to dwell with us.

Revolutionary and grounded in biblical research, Wright leads readers through the movements of the promise: God created heaven and earth to be his own home, he filled the temple with his presence, then the church with the Holy Spirit, and promises that the all creation will again be filled with his glory. He traces how the popular Christian reading got it wrong—as well as the radical transformation that awaits us and the church today if we return to God’s original vision.

Until we recover this forgotten story, Wright warns, we will keep distorting the Bible’s message. Yet, he argues, its recovery could be the key to revitalizing every aspect of Christian life as we know it: prayer, mission, evangelism, pastoral practice, and personal devotion.

Genres: Audiobook, Christian, Theology

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2026

About the author

N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England (2003-2010) and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline NBC, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air, and he has taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford universities. Wright is the award-winning author of Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Last Word, The Challenge of Jesus, The Meaning of Jesus (coauthored with Marcus Borg), as well as the much heralded series Christian Origins and the Question of God.

He also publishes under Tom Wright.

Reviews

[Suzanne McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be very significant at a popular level and it also speaks into a number of live debates in the academy. It is a must read, whether or not you agree with the big picture and/or some of the details. FWIW, I agree with the big picture and have all sorts of issues with some of the details :) It is also typical Wright :) Like the earlier Surprised by Hope, to which this is the sequel, there are *very* important correctives here, but also very evident 'pendulum swing' effects, leading to some interesting speculation, and also to some dubious sweeping claims/unjustifiable generalizations (so, for example, no, the attributes of God in Christian 'classical theism' are not simply unbiblical, and no this approach does not inevitably lead to an Apollinarian christology. I really do wonder whether Wright has read anything more of the book he references in this regard than the title). To pick out a few facets of the book, he does a predictably great job of setting out the scriptural contours of God's intention to dwell in and with his beloved creation with his beloved image-bearers, and the various facets of 'temple' themes, and how all of this shapes the biblical narrative / is the trajectory for eschatology, vs the 'souls going up to heaven’ view. He has attempted to meet some of the objections raised to his earlier work (in particular that his account of eternal life in the new creation was too anthropocentric, and had insufficient place for the worship of God - he's not entirely successful in this, in part because as I'll indicate in a moment, he actually has almost nothing to say about the eschaton). He has some serious (and to my mind correct) questions to put to the Thomist 'beatific vision’ tradition (intellectual apprehension of the essence of God, available to the blessed in the intermediate state), but his attempt to dismantle the whole idea of ‘seeing God’ as a key aspect of our eschatological telos via a brief dismissal of a few texts strikes me as…inadequate. He does hint that seeing God will be important at the eschaton, but since he has almost nothing to say about the eschatological consummation, this goes nowhere. His utter abhorrence of the 'souls going up to heaven' approach also means that he ends up rejecting the idea of a soul that continues into the intermediate state (which he will not call ‘heaven’ because of the confusion that causes). Instead, Wright opines that our body and soul will cease at death. Our ‘spirit' / our continuing identity is kept for us by the Holy Spirit, hidden with Christ in God until the resurrection on the Last Day (Wright refuses to capitalize persons of the Trinity; that is a recipe for confusion in this section in particular, so I capitalize where he does not). There is also some wild speculation in this section about how the Holy Spirit indwelling us in this life changes the Holy Spirit. This is highly problematic, completely unnecessary to his overall argument, and is a total hostage to fortune in terms of the reception of his book in theological circles. Finally, and as I’ve indicated, after very convincingly setting out theme of God coming to dwell with his people in the midst of his creation as a major facet of scripture from creation to eschaton, Wright ironically offers almost nothing about the actual eschatological homecoming / consummation / filling of the whole creation with the knowledge and glory of the Triune God, except to strongly affirm that it will happen. He offers plenty on the implications for the life of the church now, and as I’ve indicated, he has plenty to say about what the intermediate state is and is not, but he doesn’t draw together any summative thoughts on the nature of eternal life in the new creation. In particular, since he specifically rejects the Thomist approach to the beatific vision, his work here is crying out for something of the non-Thomist stream on that topic, which denies that the beatific vision is possible in a disembodied intermediate state and instead focuses on what it will mean to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ when he returns at eschaton and we will behold him in our resurrected bodies. But hey, I would say that, wouldn’t I :) !

[John Martindale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Wright makes a pretty decent case, arguing that the Hebrews looked forward to YHWH coming to earth, rather than believers being snatched away from earth and taken to heaven. That said, I suspect there is a reason (more or less tied to theodicies clashing with reality) that the church moved from this Hebraic eschatology. Bringing back this more “biblical” reading could either make Christianity seem less plausible or lead to more unhealthy premillennial movements and date setting.

Over time, certain notions, once widely accepted by a people, began to seem problematic, and gradually, religions moved away from what became too improbable. For example, the church embraced the Greek philosopher's concept of God (timeless, immutable, impassible, and transcendent) because the all-too-humanlike deity in the bible (who is local, temporal, limited, fickle, changing, jealous, emotional, selfish, etc.) seemed untenable. Likely no Christian today (including Wright) believes in anything remotely like the YHWH that ancient Hebrews worshipped, and few would try to point us back to the days when YHWH had a wife, because this tribal warrior and storm deity no longer fits within our plausibility structure.

Now, consider how in the Torah, YHWH was believed to be obligated (according to the covenant) to do certain beneficial things for Israel (which he repeatedly did not do). They also had prophets (who they thought spoke for God), and they promised so many good things. For example, all Israel would be restored and made prosperous; God’s glory would fill the temple, they would be loved, forgiven, comforted, and given a new heart; they would never again be put to shame, all their enemies would be destroyed, and survivors would be made their slaves. But once again, the good stuff did not materialize (if YHWH is real, he stubbornly acts like He is not; I suppose to test their faith?). Anyhow, these high expectations, combined with the hiddenness of God, are stressful. How many generations must die before hoping that God is coming to earth to fix everything begins to ring hollow? How long until it becomes a delusional and foolish hope?

With the coming of Antiochus Epiphanes, the author of Danial said their suffering (and God's seeming unfaithfulness) was because Jeremiah meant 490 years of the children being punished for their parents’ sin, rather than 70 years. But no worries, the 490 years would fully pay for their sin, and the sentence was almost complete; YHWH's return was only a few years after Antiochus died! But of course, the author was dead wrong, the resurrection didn't happen, and the Son of Man wasn't presented before the Ancient of Days.

In the New Testament, in a genius apocalyptic move, they could once again get their God off the hook for acting like he did not exist, by formulating the idea of a brief window of extreme suffering followed by God (in their generation) swinging in to set all to rights. Due to their belief that Jesus is the Messiah, and his being raised meaning that the general resurrection was just about to begin (Jesus was the "first fruits"), Christians could once again expect God to finally be faithful to all the promises. But again, they were wrong. Jesus didn’t return. The inherent problem with the hope of YHWH coming to dwell on earth and making all things right is that he never does so. So, I kind of understand why people begin to look less to a homecoming of God, and begin to hope for pie in the sky after we die in the sweet by and by, way up in glory land.

It is interesting to me that while Paul was living, literally NOTHING could count against the faithfulness of God, neither torture, abandonment, persecution, sword, famine, nakedness, or death. Even if killed, they would join up with Paul (who still thought he’d be alive) to welcome Jesus to earth. Paul made his faith unfalsifiable, moving from the tangible rewards (promised in the Hebrew scriptures) that were to occur in this life, and pushing these off to the age to come (which again was to occur within a few years). This is a theodicy, for it is a way to make sense of the multitude of promises that prophets made, which frankly, never happened. Anyhow, this tweak (expecting a brief period of extreme suffering followed by the imminent Parousia) most definitely worked in the first century. But Jesus never returned. After Jesus, Paul, and most of the other New Testament authors were wrong on when the new age would occur, that forced another adjustment. The assumption that we are in a training ground here on earth and we will go to heaven when we die seems easier to maintain than telling generation after generation that YHWH is coming home. Since it doesn’t seem he is ever coming home, it is easier to think of our going to heaven after we die.

The church's discomfort with the teachings, enthusiasm, and actions of Christians who believed Jesus was coming to rule on earth, embraced amillennialism, which tempered down end-time madness. I wonder if more people embraced this view, if it would make millenarian movements even more common than they are, as it is inherently unsatisfying to put our hope in the homecoming of a Savior who doesn't seem to ever be coming home.

[Bryan Ullrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Main Themes of God’s Homecoming
The Forgotten Promise: God’s Return, Not Our Escape
At the heart of God’s Homecoming is Wright’s contention that the dominant narrative in much of Western Christianity—that the goal of faith is to “go to heaven when you die”—is a profound misunderstanding of the biblical story. Instead, Wright argues that the true scriptural hope is not about human souls escaping earth, but about God coming to dwell with humanity in a renewed creation. This “homecoming” motif is traced from Genesis to Revelation, revealing a consistent biblical vision of God’s desire to make his home with his people.
Wright identifies two intertwined themes:
1. Cosmic Renewal: God’s ultimate purpose is to fill all creation with his glory, bringing about a universal renewal that unites heaven and earth.
2. Relational Homecoming: God’s personal return to Zion (Jerusalem) and his covenantal presence among his people, fulfilled in Jesus and the Spirit, and anticipated in the church.
Critique of Platonism and the “Soul Going Up” Narrative
A major theme is Wright’s critique of the influence of Platonic philosophy on Christian eschatology. He argues that from the fourth and fifth centuries onward, the church absorbed a Platonic framework that prioritized the soul’s ascent to heaven over the biblical vision of resurrection and new creation. This shift, Wright contends, has distorted Christian hope, mission, and practice.
The Temple, the Spirit, and the Sacramentshe Temple, the Spirit, and the Sacraments
Wright explores the biblical theme of the temple as the locus of God’s presence, showing how the tabernacle, the Jerusalem temple, the incarnation of Jesus, and the indwelling of the Spirit in the church all point to God’s intention to dwell with his people. The sacraments, especially Communion, are reinterpreted as tangible signs of God’s homecoming, embodying the overlap of heaven and earth in the present.
Practical Implications: Prayer, Mission, Unity, and Embodied Hope
The book moves from theological exposition to practical application, arguing that recovering the biblical vision of God’s homecoming transforms every aspect of Christian life:
• Prayer becomes communion with the God who is already present.
• Mission is participation in God’s work of renewal, not recruitment for an escape plan.
• Church unity is essential, as the church is called to be a prototype of the new creation.
• Sacramental life is re-envisioned as participation in God’s ongoing presence and future promise.