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166 reviews for:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright
4.33 AVERAGE
166 reviews for:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N.T. Wright
4.33 AVERAGE
I cannot do a full review of this book since I read it out of order for a class (we were assigned to read certain chapters during certain units) but I will say one thing. I found that when Wright was going against or disagreeing with someone, he came across annoyed, angry, and stuck up. Even if I disagreed with him and or the person he was disagreeing with, I still felt attacked and wished I could have put the book down.
My husband recommended this book to me years ago when he was required to read it for seminary. I'm sorry it took me so long to take him up on it. I'm not sorry that I took my time with it. The words N.T. Wright offers in interpreting Scripture and the resurrection often made me want to sing and dance and hug the book to my chest. I am surprised by hope, indeed, and saddened that this message is not shouted from every pulpit in every church every day of every week. Oh, the possibilities for the kingdom of God if we lived the hope.
A must-read for every person who calls themselves a Christian. Be warned, though: it is a challenging message and readers cannot remain the same after reading.
A must-read for every person who calls themselves a Christian. Be warned, though: it is a challenging message and readers cannot remain the same after reading.
4.5 stars.
I really enjoyed it in the end and it made me think a lot and certainly inspired me too. I also learned a lot from it that will be informing my thinking in the future.
However I did get a little lost in the middle. So many theology terms that he used multiple times before explaining what they meant!
Nevertheless really enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed it in the end and it made me think a lot and certainly inspired me too. I also learned a lot from it that will be informing my thinking in the future.
However I did get a little lost in the middle. So many theology terms that he used multiple times before explaining what they meant!
Nevertheless really enjoyed it!
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.