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

N. T. Wright is a brilliant scholar and theologian, and his series of books on early Christianity has become somewhat of a gold standard in terms of breath and scope of topics and themes that were explored. Those books use the most exhaustive critical methods and most up to date historical scholarship in order to establish the credibility and persuasiveness of the events that shaped the early Christianity, and especially to support the traditional view of those events. The most important of these events is certainly the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the book that exhaustively deals with is The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3). The only "problem" with that book is that it is too long and scholarly for a general reader, and thus it may not reach as wide of an audience as would be desirable. This is partly the issue that "Surprised by Hope" tries to address. It reiterates some of the main points of "The Resurrection" and presents them in readable and accessible form. It makes the main arguments far more succinctly, but also more forcefully. The chief one of those, in my opinion, is that Christianity is not mainly or even primarily concerned with "life after death," but rather with "life after life after death." This is the point that most Christians and non-Christians routinely get wrong. What is at stake, according to Wright, is that by misunderstanding what resurrection and Christian hope are all about we are much less equipped to give a strong defense of that hope and make that hope relevant for our daily life. It prevents us from living the kind of life that would fully reflect our Christian vocation in the World. The second part of the book deals with the issues that Wright thinks would benefit from our deeper understanding of resurrection and Christian hope. He has some of his own pet issues that he believes should receive top priority in our concern for the World, like the alleviation of poverty in the global south. He tries to make the connection between our belief in the future resurrection and our action on these issues, but the connection is not always as clear as he might have hoped for. This is particularly the case with some issues of lesser importance, and towards the end of the book Wright employs more of rhetoric than strong concrete arguments. The book becomes a bit too preachy for my taste, but that shouldn't be too surprising: after all, it was written by a bishop. However, even with these shortcoming this is an extremely well written book that provokes Christians to seriously rethink their most fundamental assumptions and reappropriate the message of Christian hope for the 21st century.

I read this book following the death of my mother. A sincere and authentic Christian life ( I hope) and a lifetime of study of scripture and theology did not adequately prepare me for the depth of insight offered by this author. I found myself challenged regarding long forgotton though still influential theological opinions learned in my childhood. The second half of the book is where the author really hits his stride - this seems like a message he's carried and honed for a very long time. A great read, well thought out, courageous (though I'd have liked to hear what the bishop has to say about the timing of the judgement of the dead) - didn't notice it on the way through the 'what happens to people with no relationship with God when they die' discussion - and that was a cracking insight in any case, felt like new rather than borrowed material. Perhaps for me the subject of the post resurrection recognition, and the identification process with the apostle Peter came most fresh. Not 'do you recognise me?' but 'do you love me?' - 'yes Lord you know that I love you' reveals a much deeper response and therefore for the absent 'observer' a most convincing argument.

Kind and patient explanation to guide the reader not to be shocked by the surprise of hope! Inspired to live the life as a new creature here and now, hoping the complete person.