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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Wright, N. (2008). Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. New York: Harperone. 

It is no good falling back into the tired old split-level world where some people believe in 'evangelism' in terms of 'saving souls for a timeless eternity' and other people believe in 'mission' in terms of 'working for justice, peace and hope in the present world'. That great divide has nothing to do with Jesus and the New Testament, and everything to do with the silent enslavement of many Christians (both 'conservative' and 'radical') to the Platonic ideology of the Enlightenment. One we get the resurrection straight, we can and must get mission straight. 206

The work of salvation in its full sense is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls' (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us. 213

to snatch saved souls away to a disembodied 'heaven' would destroy the  whole point. God is to become king of teh whole world at last. And he will do this not by declaring that the inner dynamic of creation was a mistake, nor by declaring that the inner dynamic of his covenant  was a failure, butr by fulfilling them both. 215

to see evangelism in terms of the announcement of God's kingdom, of Jesus' lordship and of the consequent new creation, avoids from the start any suggestion that the main or central thing that has happened is that the new Christain has enteed into a private relationship with God or with Jesus 240

seeing evangelism and any esulting conversions in terms of new creation  means that the new convert knows from the start that they are part of God's kingdom project, which stretches  out beyonf 'me and my salvation' to embrace or rather be embraced by God's worldwide purposes 241

to speak  of Jesus' lordship  and of the new creation which results from his victory on Calvary and at Easter, implies at once that to confess him as Lord and to believe that God raised him from the dead is to allow one's entire life to be reshaped by him, knowing that , though this will be painful from time to time, it will be the way, not to a diminshed or cramped human existence, but to genuine human life in the present, and complete, glorious, resurrected human life in the future. 242

no sensde in Marks gospel that Jesus is raised so therefore there really is life after death. More the impliocation that Jesus is raised and all that he said about teh coming kingdom through his work, death and ressurrection has come true.ie inauguaration of teh kingdom. 246

The message of easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it 265

I remain convinced that the way forward is to rediscover a true eschatology, to rediscover a true mission rooted in anticipating that eschatology, and to rediscover forms of church which embody that anticipation. 276

Mission must urgently recover from its long term schizophrenia. As I have said before, th esplit between 'saving souls' and 'doing good in th eworld' is a product, not of eth bible or the gospel, but of the cultural captivity of both within the western world. 277


three different ways of looking at prayer.
1) kind of mysticism. being open to the beauty joy and power of the world.
2) like in ancient paganism - Making of petitions to a deity who are distant, like sailor visiting Poseidon's temple before going to sea.
3) in between elements of both but going beyond is the prayer of Israel that celebrates the goodness of creation and recog that the heaven's declare the glory of God. Celebrate intimate union with the creator God. Transcendence; intimacy; celebration; covenant . are the roots of biblical prayer 289ff

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