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A review by ehays84
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright
5.0
For now, I will just post this: if I could recommend one book of theology for Christians to read, this would be it. So important in helping us get it right on how to think about the Kingdom of God, and to fix our pop-culture understandings of heaven and hell. Read this book along with Love Wins and The Great Divorce (although Love Wins does not really belong in the same sentence as the other two even though I think it is fairly good myself).
In brief, Wright convincingly argues that a true New Testament understanding of heaven is one that focuses on the kingdom of God that we are already a part of here on earth. Heaven is not spoken of as some sort of physical space where we go when we die. Being a part of the kingdom of heaven means living as Christ's disciples to work for the redemption of the world here and now, just as we will do in the New Heavens and New Earth at the Resurrection. Along with this, we should really stop saying "so and so went to heaven" when they die. Let us be Bible believers here, and just say "so and so went to be with Jesus" because that is what we know from the New Testament. Let us also stop all of the arguing about where people go when they die, and live now like we trust in God's promises for us when we die and like we want to be a part of how he is already working here and now.
In brief, Wright convincingly argues that a true New Testament understanding of heaven is one that focuses on the kingdom of God that we are already a part of here on earth. Heaven is not spoken of as some sort of physical space where we go when we die. Being a part of the kingdom of heaven means living as Christ's disciples to work for the redemption of the world here and now, just as we will do in the New Heavens and New Earth at the Resurrection. Along with this, we should really stop saying "so and so went to heaven" when they die. Let us be Bible believers here, and just say "so and so went to be with Jesus" because that is what we know from the New Testament. Let us also stop all of the arguing about where people go when they die, and live now like we trust in God's promises for us when we die and like we want to be a part of how he is already working here and now.