Book Review: “Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church” by N.T. Wright

Easter is the biggest celebration on the Christian calendar.  But what exactly are we celebrating?  More specifically, what are the concrete ways in which the resurrection actually matters in this world here and now?   This is a question that N.T. Wright addresses head on in his book “Surprised by Hope”, and he does so with such precision and eloquence that one cannot help but to reconsider what they think they know about Easter.

The main objections Wright has with how Easter is currently understood (esp. in the contemporary West) is how the church treats Easter either as a guarantee that believers will go to heaven when they die OR as an inner subjective reality unrelated to a real physical event.  Easter as understood in the early church and in the New Testament is neither of these things, in fact, not even close.  Both adopt a pseudo-Gnostic and Platonic worldview wed not to biblical precedent but to the dualism of Greek philosophy and the ‘modern’ West.  Dualism separates the spiritual from the physical and this is precisely what the event of resurrection deconstructs.  It is because Jesus Christ rose from the dead that the physical and spiritual are wed in such a way that it points us forward to a time where God intends heaven and earth to collide as one.  The bible calls this “new creation”.

This isn’t bad news for people who believe in heaven, its just that heaven isn’t the point and never was.  At least not heaven in the sense of a sweet, bye-and-bye, pie-in-the-sky.  New Creation is the point, when heaven meets earth, all things are set right, and God by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead raises all people bodily for judgment and the renewal of all things.  Wright understands that words like “judgement” and “bodily resurrection” can sound off-putting and mythological to the ‘modern’ West, but he exposes our attachment to false categories and illogical reasoning.  Judgment is a necessary ingredient to justice: a world set right, a world where God rights all wrongs, heals all hurt, and releases the weak from tyrannical and unjust oppression.  Bodily resurrection, no matter how fanciful and ‘out-there’ this may sound, is precisely the hope of all Judeo-Christian belief, that death is defeated not simply from a spiritual or disembodied point of view but from a physical and bodily point of view.  A disembodied life in ‘heaven’ is incomplete.   A new world, just and true, populated by physical bodies (albeit, transformed physicality) is the vision of Scripture.  And Jesus’ resurrection, Easter Sunday, is the signpost, the promise-maker that this day is not just a hopeful possibility… it is our destiny.

This, of course, raises all sorts of questions about specific Bible passages (like the ‘paradise’ spoken of on the cross) and theologies (Wright takes Rapture Theology to task with no apologies), as well as questions related to the how, when, and so what.  Wright doesn’t pretend to know how or when, he simply points out that the physical resurrection of Jesus points us forward to a new world that stirs a hope within us for the here and now (he also addresses disembodied life after death in a way that really knocks around our categories).  The ‘so what?’ is that God’s people, the church, and all those touched by resurrection hope can become now what God intends all creation to become – new, whole, transformed, missional.

More importantly, Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t simply tell a story about what will happen some day, far and away, but what is happening now.  When he rose from the dead, it was the dawn of a new day, a day when new creation was inaugurated.  A just, true, and whole world isn’t just something that is going to happen (although we do look forward to the ‘day’ of complete and radical renewal) … it is already happening, peaking out like the light that emerges before sunrise.

The ‘new day’ that dawned that first Easter means that you and me can involve ourselves in the stuff of new creation right now.  And because it’s new ‘creation’ (heaven meeting earth) and not just a spiritual, immaterial quasi-paradise, like harp-playing-cloud-dwelling-chubby-angels might suggest (how most people think of heaven), everything we do in the here and now matters.  Politics, education, family, church, business, relationships, and yes, the healing and wholeness of our inner selves is all the stuff of new creation.  All the stuff that has possibility even now of being touched by the new reality Jesus’ resurrection introduces.

True, not everything is perfect, in fact, in the last century we have witnessed atrocity (hell on earth) time and time again.  But theodicy (the problem of evil) doesn’t negate inaugurated eschatology (God’s new world breaking in here and now).  The new world may be a hidden reality, and people, by turning their backs on a just and true God and inaugurating their own selfish and twisted projects, may go on stirring up hell; but God’s goodness, mercy, and transforming grace are still ever-present.  There are places in time, matter, and space where we may indeed experience a glimpse of new creation – a place where the curtain between heaven and earth seems thin.

Further, those ‘thin’ times and places can be pursued, brought about by those who have been kissed and enlivened by God’s Spirit, as they work (and it is work) for justice, mercy, wholeness, and healing in a dark world.  This is Wright’s message and application: that  though the darkness can seem thick, the dawn has broken, the resurrection of Jesus is the light of the world.  And we, through faith, hope, and love can turn toward the darkness with the courage and stamina of people awaiting the renewal of all things, empowered by the Spirit, seeing today in a completely new light.  That is the message of Easter.

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7 Questions Good Friday Asks the Church

For one to two hours on Good Friday, millions of worshippers across the globe gather to experience the liturgy of the Stations of the Cross – each one a gospel passion narrative scene that invites pause, contemplation, and response.

Within a beautiful sanctuary, stained glass windows allowing daylight to to create kaleidoscope patterns on the dark wood walls and pews, I sat, listened, sang, and reflected.  It occurred to me that several questions emerge when we’re allowed to sit with this ancient, provocative story long enough to feel its weight and consider its message.  I must say, these aren’t the only questions or even the best questions that emerge after such reflection, but they are questions that I believe the contemporary Western church must answer.  And they aren’t easy.

 

The Postmodern Question (John 18:33-38)

“What is truth?” Pilate asks a bound Jesus in response to his statement, “for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth”.  For a long time, the church has preached and acted as though it has had a commodity on truth, but in a postmodern, post-Christian, pluralistic society this attitude is antiquated in the public sphere.  Christian theology, also, has always recognized its limitations to approaching questions of ultimate truth, however, this hasn’t always been the praxis of the local church.  So what is truth?  It certainly isn’t simply propositional, as modernism assumed.  Is it relational?  Is it accessible?  Is there a difference between the truth of science and the truth of religion?   These are huge questions concerning our philosophical commitments as a society and as a church and ones that need to be explored if the church is to really engage the postmodern world.

The Gender Question (Mark 15:40-41)

Mark makes no apologies for noting that while the 12 disciples had run, scattered, and denied to save their own skin, the female disciples of Jesus were present at the crucifixion.  It’s a detail that is often overlooked, the fact that woman, in both the passion narratives and the resurrection narratives, are featured so prominently.  In conservative circles, there is an interpretive bias toward viewing woman in leadership through the lens of Paul’s practices to specific contexts in Corinth and Ephesus, while neglecting to hear the testimony of the gospel writers and Paul when he addresses Rome.  On the other hand, in liberal circles, people flat out ignore or de-canonize significant texts that when interpreted with context in mind, could be valuable resources for helping the church understand how to carefully navigate the question of gender in a way that honors both equality and difference.  The gospel writers are radical and revolutionary for featuring woman as the primary witnesses of the crucifixion and the first evangelists of the resurrection.  So how can the church honor woman in ways that highlight their contribution as spiritual leaders while still acknowledging their gender-related uniqueness?

The Economic Question (John 19:23-24)

The Roman soldiers divided and cast lots for Jesus’ clothing and tunic though just a few scenes earlier they were openly mocking him and his so-called royal status.  John mentions that this is in fulfillment of a reality portrayed in the Psalms.  Flash forward to today, the Western church uses the majority of its resources to finance its own agenda including its buildings, payrolls, programs, and stuff.   This creates a major moral strain in light of the growing awareness concerning global inequality and the hells on earth created as a result.  Granted, the Roman soldiers were pagans who were crassly mismanaging the garb of the true King, an irony we cannot overlook.   But neither can we overlook how the resources of the church are leveraged despite the fact that, theologically, the church is to reflect the equality of new creation.   How will the church leverage its resources to promote God’s justice on earth as it is in heaven?  Its a question she cannot afford to neglect.

The Heaven Question (Luke 23:39-43)

 

The Historical Question

 

The Mystery Question

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