Surprised by Hope

By N.T. Wright
Harper One, 2008
ISBN 9780061551826
$24.95… $17.47… 30% off until Feb. 1

N.T. Wright’s most recent work promises to surprise us, not only with its theological relevance, but also with the challenge of wading through some truly weighty material.
Surprised by Hope delves into the difficult topic of bodily resurrection. Wright sets out to demystify our pop culture notions of heaven, salvation, and the resurrection of the dead. With his clear-cut exegesis of Scripture and early church texts, he hopes to move us away from the traditional assumption that when we die, our souls drift to heaven, where we rest with God and the angels for eternity.

Instead, Wright wants to root us in the New Testament understanding of new bodily life after bodily death. We will be redeemed and transformed into a new, incorruptible physicality. The resurrection of Jesus ushers in not only a new religious understanding of salvation and eternal life, but also the birth of God’s new creation on earth. Our future, Wright explains, is not about God’s project to “snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.”

Wright lays out a strong case against the misconceptions of resurrection in the modern church—Gnostic beliefs, emphasis on personal salvation, and obsession with heaven. He critiques Easter hymns, funeral liturgies, children’s books, media stories, and other instances that misrepresent the scriptural understanding of resurrection.

While he provides a strong argument against these cultural notions, he never offers us any pastoral alternatives for dealing with misguided traditions that are close to people’s hearts. I had hoped that the last few chapters of his book would put flesh on his argument. But he attempts to connect resurrection to so many different concepts—justice, beauty, evangelism, mission, prayer, baptism, Eucharist, Scripture, holiness, and love—that no clear picture emerges. In one paragraph, he addresses the “power of resurrection” for world conflicts in places like Eastern Europe and South Africa. More specific examples like this one would inspire resurrection hope for those of us seeking to preach, teach, and live it.

Overall, Wright provides significant and powerful arguments for the importance of bodily resurrection in the Christian faith and contemporary church. With a clearer conclusion and more concrete examples, he could have eased the transition from the scholarly page to the Sunday pews.