I’ve gone and done something rather uncharacteristic for me: walked into a bookstore and purchased something from the Christian section. In this case, it is N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church“.
I’ve seen mention of the author many times in various blogs, but have never investigated further. However, I’m always interested in perspectives on end times and the afterlife, so a book promising a “rethinking” will get my attention.
It will be interesting to contrast what this book has to say with Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven, which positions what is traditionally known as “heaven” as a temporary stop on the way to our ultimate destination of living out task-oriented lives on the redeemed New Earth.
What Wright evidently offers that Alcorn does not are thoughts on what his view of heaven means to life in the here and now, especially for the Church. I still have my copy of Jürgen Moltmann’s “In the End–The Beginning: The Life of Hope” to read as well – perhaps this trio of books would make an interesting combination of views to blog about.
4 Comments
Elshaddai, I’m so glad you went out and got that one. I’m reading it right now. Wright is always good to read. He’s quite provocative. I think you might find yourself agreeing with him a whole lot.
I have a post on his rereading of heaven: A Confused Rereading of Heaven.
I finished reading it just last week, and must say I found it a great book to read. Some of his ideas seem so different to what I’ve come to expect, and yet make so much sense in the way he’s presented them. I intend to go back to the book and re-read sections of it, if not all of it, as I feel it deserves more from me than my brain can take in in one read through.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I’m looking forward to digging in!
Loved the book. Also loved Pagan Christianity by Barna. So much of what I was taught wasn’t biblical but came from other sources. Now I’m wanting to check everything out by the Bible.