Worship Weblog
Thursday, February 14, 2008
N.T. Wright on Heaven: ‘Surprised By Hope’
I devoted my first book and much of my thinking and teaching so far to rediscovering a more biblical view of heaven and the afterlife, so I’m thrilled to see a star theologian devote a new book to the topic: N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.
Time magazine’s website did an interview with Wright last week about the book, under the headline “Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop.” I think Wright is right about Christians being wrong:
Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.
Wright has been making his case in scattered essays and sermons for several years now--and of course his magnum opus is a huge book on the resurrection--but he’s never pulled together his eschatology into one book like this before. I hope the church takes it seriously and embraces a more biblical hope.
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