Take a photo of a barcode or cover
163 reviews for:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright
4.33 AVERAGE
163 reviews for:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright
4.33 AVERAGE
This may be my favorite Wright book thus far, which is saying a lot. Like Rob Bell in Love Wins, Wright challenges the popular American notion that the point of Christianity is to “save souls” and instead contends that a fuller understanding of salvation, heaven and the resurrection will dramatically change how we live now. Wright is so thorough and writes so passionately that it feels impossible to give a quick summary (and narrowing down my quote choice to just a few seemed a Herculean task), so perhaps the best I can do is to say: the Kingdom starts now. As Christians we are called action, to work with God to truly make things on earth as they are in heaven, and this should affect every aspect of our life. It calls us to defy injustice and corruption, to care for all of creation, to treat everyone with love, to elevate the arts, to see ourselves as part of a community not simply as individuals, to relieve suffering –in short, to live as image-bearers of God. I could go on forever, but instead I’ll just say that you should read it and find out for yourself.
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A fantastic book that covers a deep dive study of the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for us today, and in the future. Wright is a brilliant scholar who approaches the Bible from a Jewish context and understands the concept of resurrection through a Jewish lens, which is incredibly important. I found it very practical in that Wright tells the importance of the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for Christians TODAY. We are not intangible souls hoping to detach from the physical body and world to a blissful afterlife but we are rather given vital commands by Jesus to live out on the earth, here and now. While we await the final day and final bodily resurrection, we have work to do! It is our task to make this world a better place while we await the coming Kingdom. This book serves as an important reminder of that and pushes forward the idea of Kingdom Theology, and proudly points to the hope of the New Creation.
This book was helpful in seeing the implications of Jesus' resurrection and the reality of our hope in a future bodily resurrection for Christians in the new heaven and new earth. When I read the Bible, I now see how important the resurrection was and is. Before I would treat it as something that just meant Jesus' death, but there's so much more hope and truth in that word. I I don't agree with all he says, but I would definitely recommend this book.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
All Christians should read this book. It’s so important. When we go from thinking that the point of Christianity is going to heaven when we die to to realizing that we are part of building God’s kingdom on earth, everything changes.
I found this book to be scholarly yet readable; it’s deep, but not dry or difficult to understand.
Yesterday as I sang the Easter hymns about the resurrection I felt that I had such a fuller picture in my mind about what that actually means for us. ✝️
I was going to pick a quote to share, but I can’t choose one. I’d have to quote the whole book. It’s good. Read it :)
I will for sure be revisiting this one again in the future and I highly recommend it. (And make sure you have a highlighter handy! I marked up my copy well!)
2nd time reading: I might make it a yearly tradition to read this book every Easter season. This time I listened to the audiobook, which was a bit difficult because this is the kind of book that you need to read with highlighter and notebook in hand. However, the audiobook did serve to refresh my memory about all of the great biblical truths I learned in this book.
I found this book to be scholarly yet readable; it’s deep, but not dry or difficult to understand.
Yesterday as I sang the Easter hymns about the resurrection I felt that I had such a fuller picture in my mind about what that actually means for us. ✝️
I was going to pick a quote to share, but I can’t choose one. I’d have to quote the whole book. It’s good. Read it :)
I will for sure be revisiting this one again in the future and I highly recommend it. (And make sure you have a highlighter handy! I marked up my copy well!)
2nd time reading: I might make it a yearly tradition to read this book every Easter season. This time I listened to the audiobook, which was a bit difficult because this is the kind of book that you need to read with highlighter and notebook in hand. However, the audiobook did serve to refresh my memory about all of the great biblical truths I learned in this book.
If you're looking to pick a fight with N. T. Wright, look elsewhere. This is my first N. T. Wright read, but from what I can gather this book seems to be either a more accessible summary of his previous works, or at least built firmly on those foundational texts. The first half is full of the phrases "which I have argued at length elsewhere" or "see my [previous book]," which I imagine could annoy the crap out of anyone looking to debunk his ideas.
I struggled with the 5-star rating, wondering whether my feelings for this book have become tangled up with my personal life, and how it’s been affected by the ideas and questions in this book. Which raises an interesting question: do I rate or appreciate books based on which ideas and questions it raises, or on how well or succinctly or prettily it raises those ideas and questions? I hope my appreciation of art or literature or culture or theology isn’t as reductive as I’m making it sound.
Anyway, this book wasn't quite as revolutionary to me as it might have been a few years ago, but that seems mostly due to how much its ideas (which aren't new, by the way) have trickled down through (or been brazenly proclaimed by) others. I mean for instance Calvin College's Ken Hefner, who began the most transforming lecture I've ever heard (on art and culture, and why God cares about it) with an indictment of Rapture Theology and an introduction (for much of the audience) to Kingdom Theology.
I said “that seems mostly due to how much its ideas have…” because I honestly don’t know much context. My theology has been shaped by many incredible, brilliant pastors and people I’m blessed to have known in my short life, but I must admit an ignorance of much theology writing. Outside of C.S. Lewis and several stray works, I can’t admit many theoogy books I’ve completed.
So I recognize that Wright hasn’t single-handedly revitalized the incredible significance of the Resurrection, the present renewal of creation, and the future marriage of the new heavens and the new earth, but what he does is wonderfully explain and make the reader care about monumental ideas, many of which stand in stark contrast to what we 21st-century Westerners are familiar with. I must exclude his one chapter on Justification, which confused the crap out of me. That’s a whole other story though.
While much of what he says bears repeating, the book suffers slightly from its repetition, which is perhaps a symptom of Publisher’s Minimum. It never got frustrating, distracting, or tedious for me though; it’s more a matter of some fat that could be trimmed. All in all, Surprised by Hope is one of the most important books I’ve ever read.
I struggled with the 5-star rating, wondering whether my feelings for this book have become tangled up with my personal life, and how it’s been affected by the ideas and questions in this book. Which raises an interesting question: do I rate or appreciate books based on which ideas and questions it raises, or on how well or succinctly or prettily it raises those ideas and questions? I hope my appreciation of art or literature or culture or theology isn’t as reductive as I’m making it sound.
Anyway, this book wasn't quite as revolutionary to me as it might have been a few years ago, but that seems mostly due to how much its ideas (which aren't new, by the way) have trickled down through (or been brazenly proclaimed by) others. I mean for instance Calvin College's Ken Hefner, who began the most transforming lecture I've ever heard (on art and culture, and why God cares about it) with an indictment of Rapture Theology and an introduction (for much of the audience) to Kingdom Theology.
I said “that seems mostly due to how much its ideas have…” because I honestly don’t know much context. My theology has been shaped by many incredible, brilliant pastors and people I’m blessed to have known in my short life, but I must admit an ignorance of much theology writing. Outside of C.S. Lewis and several stray works, I can’t admit many theoogy books I’ve completed.
So I recognize that Wright hasn’t single-handedly revitalized the incredible significance of the Resurrection, the present renewal of creation, and the future marriage of the new heavens and the new earth, but what he does is wonderfully explain and make the reader care about monumental ideas, many of which stand in stark contrast to what we 21st-century Westerners are familiar with. I must exclude his one chapter on Justification, which confused the crap out of me. That’s a whole other story though.
While much of what he says bears repeating, the book suffers slightly from its repetition, which is perhaps a symptom of Publisher’s Minimum. It never got frustrating, distracting, or tedious for me though; it’s more a matter of some fat that could be trimmed. All in all, Surprised by Hope is one of the most important books I’ve ever read.
N.T. Wright is a great speaker, but a very tedious writer. I found it difficult to finish because it did not keep my attention. His theology is very interesting which is why I mustered through it.
I respect and admire the research and depth of clarity that Wright has used to bring this book to completion. I was inspired in a few small sections to rethink and reframe my language around heaven, hell, resurrection and more. However, I am disappointed in the writing style. The lecture mode of the the writing is tiresome and I lost count of how many times he wrote about what he was ‘trying to convey’ rather than just conveying it. Also too numerous to count are the spots that he ‘couldn’t go into more depth on’ for this or that or the other thing. I grew frustrated with all of the extra words around the words. Important content. Tiresome style. I was definitely going to give it only three stars and then... that glorious last chapter and the hilarious (but deadly serious) sermon dictated at the end... and I had to give it an extra star for making me close my book and stare at the wall and think for a long, long time.