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Customer Reviews for HarperOne Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
HarperOne Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
"Wright has an extraordinary ability to find fresh, vivid images that help clarify difficult Christian truths, and he never tires of examining those images from every possible angle,"---National Catholic Reporter. How New Testament teaching runs counter to popular notions of the afterlife in the West. 416 pages, softcover. HarperOne.
Average Customer Rating:
(9 Reviews) 9
Rating Snapshot (9 reviews)
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1 out of 1100%customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Review 1 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Overall Rating:
Fantastic Book on Easter and the Resurrection
Date:March 28, 2013
Quality:
5
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5
Value:
5
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Meets Expectations:
5
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N.T. Wright is one of the premiere scholars in the world today and it’s astonishing how many books he has published. What’s even more profound is that while many of these are written for the lay-person, they are still obviously well researched and well thought out. While he’s not without controversy (as is with any scholar who tries to bridge the gap between the academia and the “regular” world), I would fully recommend that as many Christians read as much of his writings as is possible.
Surprised by Hope would be a very good introduction to Wright. The sub-title reads “Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church” and this is as succinct of an outline as possible in regards to the topics covered in this book. Basically Wright sets out to correct the weird cultural misunderstandings that most Christians bring into the discussion regarding our faith in Jesus and what that means for heaven, the after-life, resurrection and the mission of the global church. One of his on-going ideas is that it’s not about going to heaven after you die, but about having life after life after death – that there is a final resurrection where heaven comes down to earth and transforms it. All of this is understood through the resurrection of Christ – that he is the first-fruit of this final resurrection. The post-resurrection stories of Christ present him in his glorified bodily state and this involves a physical reality that has been transformed.
This is an incredibly fascinating read and he covers so much ground in this work. While it is written at the popular level, you cannot just breeze through it. This is heavy material and we need to take our time with it. I would highly recommend this work to anyone interested in Wright as well as anyone who wants to understand what the Biblical picture is in regards after-life issues. Most of my critiques are fairly minor – I do wish that the footnotes were at the bottom instead of an index (although I realize that is a personal opinion and may have been an editorial decision). It would have also been nice to have more of the Scriptural texts actually written out instead of just referenced (again, it’s a personal preference and showcases my laziness to read this alongside the Bible). I do wish he had talked more about differing views of soul-sleep, hell etc but I do realize that this is not a systematic textbook and there are plenty of these on the market place.
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Review 2 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Overall Rating:
Date:June 16, 2010
Tim Rogers
I think it is one of the best books on our hope in Christ that I have ever read. As a matter of fact I have read none that compare. I would encourage any believer to read and pray through this book. The resurrection should be the center piece of our faith and Wright provides ample Biblical reasons to live out this truth.
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Review 3 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Overall Rating:
Date:April 24, 2009
Rick Shipley
As one would expect, Tom Wright is a bastion of orthodoxy as he cuts through the cultural additions made over the centuries and brings out the true "faith of our fathers" concerning "life after life." Wright's style is one of both academic brilliance and a fatherly spiritual mentor as he methodically works through the epistemological and historical issues to illuminate an orthodox Christian view of death and life after death. Readers will be able to relate well to his discussions about how non-Christian, even pagan beliefs, have infiltrated Christian thought. Indeed a strong defense of orthodox Christian belief in a literal bodily resurrection (of Jesus and believers) and how this belief should drive us to embrace a hope that mimics Christ's downward mobility toward humanity by loving and serving others. This book should energize the church to "love our neighbor as ourselves" in this life, love and appreciate God's "good creation," and find a balance between "saving souls" and "serving souls."
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Review 4 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:January 10, 2009
Red
This book does a great job of undoing the mess of theology we have made in the US. I'd note to one of the other reviewers that one of Wright's points is specifically that our faith has been twisted to focus too much on our "individual" destinies. Once you are alive in Christ, a whole world of life opens up, including life in faith community.
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Review 5 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:July 21, 2008
Alvin Hebert
I found Surprised by Hope revealing and inspiring, as well as a bit of a let down. Wright's ideas about our lives after death actually beginning with Jesus and His resurrection, and, our bodies and all of creation being eventually renewed by God for an eternity existence are enlightening, refreshing and very convincing and believable. However, after reading the book, I was a bit let down, too. Maybe, I was expecting far too much, although I must admit that what he presented is a lot more than has ever before been presented in this light. I felt he spent too much effort trying to justify and build a role for the church, a manmade institution, in helping us get to our lives after death and too little effort addressing our "individual" lives after death. There should be such a role for the church, however, the fact is that the church has chosen a different role for itself. That being justifying it's existence as a "buffer" between God and us. I am looking more toward my needs as an individual. After all, as Wright says, we don't need (agents) to represent us before God. We can go to Him and to Jesus directly. Surprised by Hope is refreshing and new, though. Wright's ideas are welcomed, indeed.
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Review 6 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:July 15, 2008
Natasha Mwangi
I bought it as a gift for my husband. It must be good because a few days before I received this book, I found this book in a bag of his which he had purchased himself!
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Review 7 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:July 1, 2008
Thomas Olson
Bishop Wright has another must read book for you. He focuses on the dilution of the meaning of resurrection over the years and emphasizes the need to return to exactly what the early church knew and taught. Excellent, clear and provocative.
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Review 8 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:May 20, 2008
Tomas Axeland
The book has great insight into the true Christian view of the resurrection, and makes an example of the ever-so-popular dualistic view of the body/spirit heaven/earth evangelicalism of today. Wright makes a point of telling all the moral and ethical conclusions of both views. Though the book is not an academic treatise, where some points could be further proven if the reader has read Wright before then this should not be a problem.
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Review 9 for Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Date:February 25, 2008
Donald
Wright once again provides a great book that is very readable and full of information that is vital for a proper understanding of heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church. Further, Wright also answers the question: Is the world getting better or worse?I would recommend this to pastors, lay people, and anyone who wants to gain a fresh new understanding of what truly is "Christian Hope."
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