N.T. Wright: Surprised By Hope

After a long break, I picked up Wright’s Surprised by Hope: Rethinking the Resurrection, Heaven, and the Mission of the Church and finished it on vacation. While a readable volume, this was a challenging read. Tom comes from a different tradition than I and much of his theology was alien to me. I’ll be rereading this one again soon. I’ve spend much of my life dodging eschatologicial questions. I find the topic divisive, and I’ve been uncomfortable with the framework(s) that my faith tradition offers. Wright offers a model of looking at the end times that avoids our times most troubling pitfalls– a theology of disengagement and universalism to name a few.

I found the book to be valuable to my thinking about children’s ministry. Wright challenges us to not only look at who is or is not saved–but who God is saving through (Salvation is only found in Jesus, but Jesus message is embodied in his children.) I walked away from this book with a greater appreciation of what it means to be missional. Wright sees the resurrection as the first act of God’s dimension bonding to our dimension. (Your kindgom come on earth as it is in heaven.) Morality and mission then is learning to live in the new creation that God is establishing.