N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Hope": The Pirate Review, Day 10
Chapter 12
Rethinking Salvation: Heaven, Earth and the Kingdom of God
Chapter 12 culminates the final section of the book. where Wright will attempt to tie in all that he has put forward regarding the proper understanding of the Christian hope to the question of what it all means for us today. This, as Wright likes to say, is the "So What?" moment.
The main theme of the book so far, if we can reduce it to just one, is the insistence that the historical Christian hope has very little to do with a disembodied life after death, and very much to do with life here on earth, both today and in the future when God's promise to make "all things new" (not "all new things") is fulfilled. And Chapter 12 continues on pressing that point, but here in the context of clarifying our ideas of Salvation and The Kingdom of God.
I thought about summarizing Wright's take on these two themes from Chapter 12, but inasmuch as (1) they are so similar to two lectures that he gave on those topics, (2) there is something about hearing Wright lecture about these issues that speaks to a place that the written word simply doesn't reach (imagine if we could somehow go back in time and hear Paul speak about Jesus), and (3) to be quite frank, I'm too exhausted from the long weekend to summarize these massive themes, I've decided instead to post a link to the following two lectures. Those who have never heard Wright speak, you're in for a real treat:
(The good stuff about "Salvation" kicks in at the 28-minute mark)
(All good stuff about "Kingdom of God" here)
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
Thanks for visiting Provocative Church. I look forward to reading your reviews and interacting more with Wright's book on my blog.
Bill