N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

Prof's Opinion

N.T. Wright is a leading New Testament scholar. This book popularizes some of the main themes of Wright's research and teaching. Its central claim is basically that Christians have sidelined the resurrection of the dead in our thinking, hoping, and worshiping, despite the centrality of that doctrine in biblical and traditional Christianity. We are captives to a 'folk Christianity' that distorts and erases much of biblical Christianity. Restoring resurrection to its fundamental place also restores our ability to appreciate the significance of God's creation, our bodies, the present time, and the lives we lead while we anticipate our deaths and resurrections. Wright's book is the longest one on our list, but he is a good storyteller and his rich and effective illustrations help the pages fly by.

Student Reviews (basically unedited)

In Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright 1) works through common misconceptions about the resurrection, 2) explains what the resurrection actually was and what it means (for the world then and the world now), and 3) explores how we should live our lives in response to the resurrection. His audience is wide: believers at any stage of spiritual maturity should read this book, but non-believers who are seeking to understand the core tenets of Christianity should too. I would especially commend this book to Christians who are not certain about what why this event is crucial in the context of their faith. For me personally, Wright answered a lot of questions that I have harbored for years, but could never properly articulate. He took many concepts that I—in a hazy manner—understood as abstract and distant, and transformed them into concrete and immediate ideas. With him, what seems basic becomes insightful. For example, he discusses the details of Jesus's ascension and what the separation of God's realms actually is. Heaven, he says, is not a distant place in the sky or a far-away location, but just another dimension that is not visible to us. It's not as far as we think. Furthermore, life after death does not simply involve our souls floating up to heaven; the period we will spend in heaven is just transitory. What is the real endgame, then? Well, Wright fully explains how that is resurrection! Before reading this book, I did not clearly understand that progression or how heaven and resurrection truly fit together. Now, I am definitely more aware of the hymns we sing about what happens to us after we die, the literal manner in which people talk about Jesus being "sucked into the sky," and much more. Instead of passively ascribing to gnosticism, spiritualism, or the myth of progress, I am now more alert to how the Gospel is radical, a revolution of active love and one that we frequently misunderstand. What I do here truly matters. This world is God's, not just a realm that I must eventually escape to float up to heaven. The action I take and the words I speak are concretely building the kingdom of God, even if I don't see that right now. What a relief! If you are at all interested in learning about why resurrection is so central to our faith and what will happen to us after death, I would highly recommend reading this book.

Surprised by Hope addresses the question, what is the ultimate Christian hope? Much like many of the letters in the New Testament, this book provides some answers to the question that many disciples had after Jesus’ death, what’s next for us? The text is applicable to many of the topics that are brought up in lectures throughout the course. Actually, it doesn’t only just apply to the lectures in class but to the lives of Christians around the world living in this post-resurrection era. Throughout the book, Wright often makes strong claims that show the audience exactly what he thinks when it comes to certain western practices. He is not afraid to point out faults that many western churches engage in that follow a theme of not fully understanding what it means to live a life as a Christian in this world today. The text corresponds well with the lecture material but I found it most valuable just to apply it to my own life and what I think it means to be a Christian today. Wright had many compelling statements but one that stuck with me is when he mentioned that being a Christian involves a lot of doing in addition to witnessing. I recommend this book to everyone who is seeking to think critically about what it means to be a Christian and to those who are searching for hope as well.

What does it truly mean to have Christian hope, to receive eternal life? This is the question N.T. Wright addresses in Surprised by Hope, discussing the misconception within Western Christianity of eternal life meaning simply going to heaven when we die. Wright offers a fresh and necessary insight, arguing that our distorted perspective can only be remedied with the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of redemption in our own bodily resurrection at Jesus’ second coming. This first-century Christian understanding of resurrection is surprising in the face of the Western Christianity, which often teaches redemption as escapist, the belief that we will become merely spiritual beings when we die. The bodily resurrection gives life to our mission, shapes our vocation, and is essential to faithful service in the kingdom of God that Jesus has enacted in his life, death, and resurrection. This book is a powerful and beautiful call to live as a disciple of Christ, to wake up and take part in the radical and life-changing work of Jesus Christ. Readers who are new to the faith may want to hold off on reading this book due to the difficult concepts and breadth of knowledge Wright draws upon. If you are struggling with your vocation, wondering what it truly looks like to have hope as a disciple of Jesus, this book is for you. It will challenge, stretch, and grow you, but you will ultimately gain a deeper calling, a truer sense of hope in following Jesus Christ, and the joy of knowing the kingdom of God is already here. This book has radically changed my perspective on hope, given me a truer sense of calling than I have ever known before, and has shown me what it looks like to live a life of purpose-driven mission, all because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In his book, Wright lays out an amazing picture of what our Christian hope is really placed in. Wright points out that we live in a time with such confusion about our true future as Christians. Heaven is such a vague subject for so many believers. In his book, Wright centers around the fact that our future and hope for Christians is much greater than most people think. He centers his book around the fact and theme of Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection we will all experience as believers. Looking at the life of Jesus and the promises made in the Bible, Wright unpacks the hope of the resurrection and explains that our hope is not simply an escape from this broke planet to Heaven, but a final resurrection when the Lord will make all things new and fully establish his kingdom! People who read this book will gain a greater understanding of God’s work of redemption, the hope we have as individuals, and the call of the Church today to live out and join God’s mission. This would be a great book for anyone looking to greater understand life with Christ. His plans for us truly are greater than we even think and this book will help readers to see the ways our hope as Christians is centered on the resurrection, evident in the presence of God in and through the Church, and awaiting the day when the King of Kings will return and ultimately establish the New Creation we long for.

N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope is a theological masterpiece exploring the intricacies and common misconceptions society has about the Christian faith and more specifically about the resurrection. All humanity wonders about the purpose of life and asks questions about what happens when we die, no matter if they are Christian or not. Wright answers these questions in thought-provoking and convicting ways. His basic thesis throughout the book suggests that heaven is not some other world up in the clouds but instead a full restoration and rebirth of Earth itself. The author argues that if we understood heaven as being a new Earth, we would begin to make more decisions with an eternal perspective. Wright challenges common and stereotypical views of the Jesus’ death and resurrection, the existence of heaven, and the purpose of our lives today. He does this through explaining each of those concepts in its fitting historical context. This book is best suited for readers who have grown up in the church hearing typical and simplified views of the Gospel need to experience the power of our salvation in a new and refreshed way. This book challenged all my previous ways of viewing heavenly hope and I’m walking away with more questions than answers. Because of this, people who are new to the faith might find it hard to understand and appreciate the material. Since I have a strong and matured foundation for my beliefs, the questions this book sparked haven’t jarred my faith, but I think they could for someone just starting to build their foundation. At the end of the day, I was very happy with reading this book. I have grown exponentially in my wonder and joy for God and the Christian faith.

Wright offers a detailed, Gospel-based revival of the orthodox Christian hope in the midst of the secular ideology and diluted folk-Christianity prominent in the UK and US. Throughout Wright works against the widely accepted Platonic notion that the ultimate Christian hope is the immaterial soul meriting an entry into a disembodied Heaven through Christ, escaping the broken world as well as the ever decomposing and restricting physical body, both of which we are essentially prisoners of until death. To discredit this false depiction of Christian salvation, Wright offers commentary on countless examples of Scripture to reintroduce the orthodox hope of Christian salvation, which he coins as “The New World”. Using this intrinsically hopeful language, Wright reemphasizes the significance of Christ’s bodily resurrection, enlightening readers of the fact that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection was certainly not for the purpose of opening an avenue of blissful escape (for this would imply no hope for the present), but rather a first-fruit or template of what will happen to those who are in Christ Jesus. Because of this, the resurrection of souls will not resemble immaterial ghosts being sucked up into the clouds, but rather those in Christ will partake in a literal bodily resurrection as did Jesus. This further implies that our ultimate salvation is not in the common notion of Heaven (people wearing all white, in the clouds) but rather entails returning to a new and redeemed Earth, a “New World”. To Wright, Heaven (The Kingdom of God) resembles a veil that is ever-enclosing on the reign of the world, which will eventually consume said reign upon the return of Christ. Our present Christian hope then, according to Wright, is to further this notion of the Kingdom of God by spreading what it means/looks like to be in Christ via blatant mission or via daily, seemingly mundane actions/interactions. Christians who struggle with the question of “so what?” ought to read Surprised by Hope, for, as corny as it may sound, they will certainly be.

N.T Wright exposes common Western Christian falsehoods of the future in his excellent book Surprised by Hope. To define the Christian hope and its importance for how we live today, Wright begins by pointing out the confusion regarding the resurrection, then expands on the New Testament picture of “God’s Future Plan”, and ends with practical application to individuals and the church as a whole. Early on he provides the various beliefs that the Bible does not convey, the consequences of this confusion, how early Christians beliefs mutated, and an explanation for the variation in the Gospels. The second section challenges the gnostic belief (this world will eventually be abandoned for an unphysical reality) and the progressive belief (this world will ‘evolve’ into perfection) with the New Testament belief that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is paradigmatic for the futures of us and this earth. Finally, He uses this argument to convey that through beauty, justice, and evangelism we are messengers of hope, and what we do in our present life matters. He draws directly from hymns and the Bible, but lacks other images and anecdotes to convey complex ideas- although usually none are needed. Wright’s language and ideas are at times very straightforward and easy to grasp. However there are moments when he is clearly writing to an audience previously involved in the conversation- academics and theologians. These dense sections tend to be short and inconsequential to understanding his overarching arguments. Overall, Surprised by Hope is invigorating and enlightening, bringing a new excitement and meaning to this life.

Surprised by Hope depicts a theology of resurrection that many Churches and believers have lost today. In rediscovering the true life, death, and resurrection of Christ and how it relates to our own future resurrection, reader’s hope will be revitalized to the glory of the original Church. Wright takes his readers through a survey of the historical views past Christians have had on the resurrection to reveal where hope lies, and where it is inevitably lost. Through discovering the complex ways in which Christs resurrection restores our hope for the future, believers are able to live life on this earth in worship and service to God's kingdom. Instead of defining our hope in terms of enlightenment understanding and the greek philosophies of Plato, the audience is encouraged to redefine Christian afterlife in the context of the israelites and Church in Acts. As I began reading this book, the belief that the future was some unknown place of life in heaven that didn't need to be understood plagued my perception on the importance of understanding the resurrection; however, the book masterfully demonstrates the importance on Christian hope in this present life, as well as in the life to come. I would recommend this book to all Christians as a foundation for understanding the truth of our hope, and revitalizing the modern Church under these beliefs.

N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope is a read that is remarkable for our time. All Christians hear the cliché language of life, death, hope, resurrection, and heaven all too often while not having an adequate understanding. Wright’s purpose of the book is pursue the questions of what is Christian hope and what is this hope as it pertains to change, salvation, transformation, and new possibilities for the world we currently live in? As they are two separate questions, Wright argues that they are questions that should be intertwined. Christians generally understand the language of hope and resurrection, Wright argues that there has been a vast amount of confusion revolving hope within the culture and the church. Hope has been asserted to be a matter of anticipation for something that will happen at some point. Christians, particularly in the West, have also asserted that the end of the story is when we go to heaven. Wright pushes back against this assertion in pointing to the beliefs of the early church that believed that hope was when the new heavens and the new earth meet and when Jesus would appear. He disregards the Western idea of progress in pointing to the early church vision for what the whole world was waiting for. As we anticipate the hope ahead, Wright emphasizes the key role that building up the kingdom and mission play in living with anticipation and truly living out the future. This book is good for those who are seeking a deeper grasp of what hope means for Christians today. For an academic historian and theologian, the book is written in a way that is understandable. It may also be a good challenge to those who affirm the Christian faith while believing in the idea of progress.

In Surprised By Hope, N.T. Wright takes a fantastic, in depth dive into the modern day Christian misunderstanding that when we die, our ultimate destination is heaven.  Instead, Wright argues that when we die, we are resurrected into the new heavens and new earth in spirit and in flesh. This claim is backed up with many scriptural examples, giving the historical and biblical basis for the idea that God will be remaking us and resurrecting us in the body, in physicality. This was astounding for me, for I did not realize until reading this novel that we live in a “world where Jesus reigns as Lord, having won the victory over sin and death”; a world where our place is in the “frontline outposts in those who in baptism have shared his death and resurrection.” N.T. is saying, as he makes a pretty convincing case for in the rest of his novel, that we share in Christ’s resurrection, which is a resurrection not only of the spirit but also the body. This gives hope to the reader, for it implies that our time here is not being wasted, but rather is actually a part of the new creation that is in the process of arriving since Jesus died on the cross. Good news indeed. I recommend this book highly to anyone who is willing to put the time into reading through Wright’s extensive arguments. It is a book that requires much work on the part of the reader to get through, but boy, is that work rewarding in the end. Surprised By Hope is a reiteration of the best news, the news of the Bible, told in clear, logical, and convincing prose.

Surprised by Hope describes Wright’s alternative to current views of what Christian eternal life will look like. Using knowledge of early church history, Greek and Hebrew etymology, and biblical exegesis, Wright describes in depth the type of fulfillment and completion that is reached through a relationship with Christ. Wright outlines what Christian faith looks and feels like when it is done correctly. This is not a book suggested for those new to the faith or those disinterested in the details of the faith. This is a book that can shape your view of the future, the way that you live your life currently here on earth, and the way that you think about Christ’s death and resurrection, but it is written to those within the church who already have an understanding and appreciation for the basic truths of the church. Surprised by Hope includes corrections and examples of what to not act like or believe from within the church, causing believers to rethink the ways in which they praise God and think about “kingdom come and will be done”. This is a book written to the believer who is seeking a deeper and more mature level of faith.

Surprised By Hope offers refreshing reminders and corrects common misconceptions about the Christian view of the afterlife.  Many believing Christians hold the view that Heaven is the final resting place for Christians when we die. Wright pushes back against this view and reintroduces the truth about the New Heaven and the New Earth as our permanent home, as well as Jesus’ second coming.  Going hand in hand with the end times is the Christian concern for souls. Wright stresses that, as a Christian, action must be taken, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. From there he dives into the mission of the global Church. Wright takes the position that a Christian’s genuine view on the afterlife should positively influence the manner in which they conduct themselves and seek out others before death.  I encourage those who are searching for the meaning of life through a theological lens to peel back the cover of Surprised by Hope and read Wright’s book to find answers.  For anyone contemplating, struggling with, or simply curious about eschatology and how it affects our day-to-day Christian mission, this book is for you.  

In this book, NT Wright fights back against the prevailing and growing ideas in the West concerning Heaven, death, and hope in the Christian context.  His premise is that what is commonly believed about these things is completely wrong and has little to no biblical basis; instead, they draw heavily from other religious beliefs from around the world.  One such misunderstanding he points out is the idea that our loved ones can still hear us after they die. He explains that this comes from a Buddhist belief and has been slowly adopted over the course of history.  He argues that this and other ideas go against the New Testament early church’s ideology (which was in strong agreement), yet modern churches have many differing views on what happens after death. Wright then discusses the Easter miracle and how Jesus’ bodily resurrection was an idea completely foreign to the early church.  One important point he promotes is that neither the empty grave nor the meetings with Jesus after his death are in and of themselves sufficient to dictate how we should interpret the resurrection phenomenon. But taken together, he says that they demonstrate a link between our current bodies and the resurrected body. He asserts that the New Testament view of the “end times” is that of heaven coming down to earth, the restoration of the earth and all that it was intended to be.  Wright then uses this point to argue that our actions in the present will have an effect on the eventual return of the kingdom of God. This fights against the implications of “escapism”, the idea that we will leave this earth and these bodies when we die and therefore what we do now will not matter in the end. Whether or not you agree with Wright’s standpoint, he has strong points that should make any reader at least second-guess their own presuppositions concerning death and what happens after.

N.T. Wright speaks to an audience that has heard of the message of Christianity and has lived in its confines for a time, but is missing the historical truths of its origins.
We all seem to know the gospel message, and we’re all at least halfway aware of the things Christianity demands, but do we know it in the way Jesus meant for us to? By analyzing the specific meanings situated in their respective cultural contexts, Wright gives us a picture of the gospel that correctly applies the specific understanding of 1st Century to a 21st century American audience.
Surprised by Hope takes you to a place where you read the message of the gospel as it applies to a Christ whose body has risen. Again and again, Wright hammers down this idea that the fleshly body of Jesus was given life by the Spirit, and because of that, we are given a much richer future than what earlier versions of Christianity have promised us.
The book is a paradigm shifter, and powerful in many ways. There are points in the book where we seem to break through to Wright’s direct sympathy, portions of the book when it seems like we are lifted up in with Jesus and his heavenly promises. With wit, and a few acerbic jabs against traditional Christianity, Wright has crafted a book that should belong to any collection of books all Christians should read. 7/10

Simply reading the inside cover of N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope made me realize just how little I knew about the Christian beliefs of heaven and the resurrection: I had fallen prey to trading “the sure and certain hope” we have in Christ for “the vague and fuzzy optimism that somehow things may work out in the end” (25). Wright’s main goal is to redirect our hazy hope in “going to heaven” to an anticipation of new creation.
Although Wright admits that we can’t know all the details of this, he provides some compelling analogies of what it may be like: like birth, pain will give way to new life and there will be both continuity and discontinuity; like marriage, heaven and earth—two seemingly opposed spheres—will join together as they were meant to be (106-7).
Wright also discusses Jesus’ current reign and assures us that “judgment is a good thing.” He works through the implications of these ideas, particularly how they impact and radically reshape the mission of the church, healing the dichotomy we’ve set up between doing good and “saving souls.”
*While I found this book inspiring, it turned out not to be the best fit for the mentoring project, though perhaps that was specific to us. Because Wright laid out most of his important ideas early on, I felt like my mentor and I exhausted the content fairly quickly. With that caveat, however, I think this book is extremely helpful for gaining clarity on what it is we Christians really have our hope in; and thus it gives us a perspective with which to work in the world.

I enjoyed Surprised by Hope the most out of all the books I read this semester. Wright breaks the book into three parts, speaking about hope, resurrection, and what we think heaven and hell are versus what they’re biblically interpreted as. The concept of heaven and hell has always been one of the most interesting areas to explore in my faith and is undoubtedly one of the greatest mysteries to Christians. Some of Wright’s claims can come across as ambitious and bold, but are backed with scriptural evidence. Readers should expect to gain insight on unanswered questions about the future that is spoken of in the New Testament, as well as what the ultimate Christian hope is. Surprised by Hope is unquestionably suited for those who are serious about their faith. Reader’s shouldn’t be surprised to learn more about their calling in life on earth and what can be expected from eternal life in heaven.

N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope dramatically changed my outlook on life, death, and humanity’s relationship with God. I do not say this lightly—the argument presented in this book has profound implications on the Christian’s walk of faith and the way that every single aspect of existence ought to be approached. Surprised by Hope is essentially the presentation of the Christian paradigm in light of the resurrection of Christ and the promised resurrection of all believers/the redemption of the earth. Because of the anticipated renewal of all things, the Christian’s life is given a meaning that I had never before encountered in a tangible way: to work under God, and to build the Kingdom on earth. This is radical because it destroys the split between heaven and earth, or even the saved and the unsaved. Every single thing we do on earth can have lasting, positive significance when dedicated to the building of the kingdom. Wright moves through other basic elements of Christian doctrine, and re-explains them in light of this incredible hope. The most surprising thing to me was that Wright does not offer any revolutionary idea, as the core of his argument is taken directly from the Bible, but his writing seems revolutionary because of the widespread misunderstanding of heaven for both Christians and non-Christians. As I read I was torn between anger that I was raised in the faith and still never encountered these ideas, and a sense of joy and hope that made me want to buy copies and mail them to everyone I know.

This was an interesting book for me to read, and highly intellectual. The main focus of this book is on misunderstandings about the eternal destination of a Christian. This was a very interesting topic to me. N.T. Wright says that the most common misconception is that, when we die, we will rest in heaven forever. Wright thinks that heaven is temporary and that we will all, eventually, be brought back to live on earth. I thought all of this was very interesting, and Wright does a great job of explaining all parts of eternal life. However, a problem I had with this book was that Wright pushed his belief of, eternal life ending back on earth, very heavily. There was no room for what the reader might think or wonder. If you are somebody who does not like a belief to pushed upon you, I would not recommend this book. My personality pushes back when people force things upon me, and this probably blinded me at times in the reading. However, my favorite part, and view, from this book is Wright’s view on treating our world good in the current days. We should be treating our world with the expectation of Jesus coming back to earth. If we knew for a fact that we would be coming back to earth at some point, I think many people would treat the world better. This is how we should treat it, no matter the circumstances.

Surprised by Hope, by N.T. Wright, unpacks how the future hope of Christianity mingles with everyday life. He does this by exploring what happens after we die, and illuminating how the hope of the future is heaven on earth. Wright’s main argument is that resurrection of the body is a distinguishing element of Christianity, and that it is because of the literal resurrection of Jesus that we have this hope for the future of all peoples. He discusses what happens after death and before Jesus’ return, and emphasizes that our current life should be impacted by what we believe happens after death—including our personal spiritual lives and the way we live. This would be a recommended book for those who are hoping to explore Jesus’ resurrection from a historical perspective on theology. It would also be recommended for the readers who are up for a lengthy read. It is emotionally, theologically, and physically dense and deserves to be combed through in order to grasp the depth of Wright’s arguments. Wright’s arguments advance much of what our New Testament classes at Westmont teach, and reading this book after taking that course will be rewarding and make Wright’s arguments more understandable.

N.T. Wright, a bishop of the Anglican church and best-selling author, addresses the extremely controversial and thought provoking question of what actually happens after we pass on, and brings to light the majority of Christians have a flawed understanding of this key component of the faith. Readers should expect to gain a new lens through which to understand the concept of the afterlife and the merging of Heaven and a new earth, as opposed to the common misconception that Heaven is a physical place, albeit in another dimensions, that we are miraculously transported to. Making this important distinction leaves the reader with a more accurate understanding of the Christian afterlife. Individuals who are seeking answers not only to the question of what life after death constitutes, but specifically what life after death constitutes in a Christian faith context would do well to read this book.

This book was long. While it was time-consuming due to its length, it was not as difficult as a read (compared to other books read). There were not too many complicated termed, which in my opinion made it easier for me to understand the material. I was able to complete the book faster than I expected to. To get the best understanding of the material and meanings in the book, I recommend discussing a few times with a small group. Some ideas of what to take notes on included: meaningful phrases, passages that stuck out or had a deeper meaning for you. One of the discussion topics of the book is misunderstandings of western churches. In the book, there are passages of scriptures, hymns, and stories from others. These tools/works are used to illustrate the author's meaning. There is some discussion of the confusion on existence; where will we go, how will it happen, what is heaven like. The two main questions of the book are; What is the ultimate Christian Hope? and within the world, what hope is there for things like change, possibilities, transformation, and rescue? I would recommend this book to a friend or family member who is at a low or difficult point in their life. It can help to get some inside and distract from personal issues and bring the focus back on God.

N.T. Wright’s bookquestions what Christian hope should look like. Many Christians believe hope is the opportunity to go to heaven and leave our broken world entirely. However, Wright believes we should look towards the early church’s hope, new creation in Jesus Christ. With this viewpoint, death is completed in two stages, “first, a short sleep, then an eternal waking” when the new heaven and new earth meet (15). Before Christ, the ultimate Jewish hope was belief in “eventual resurrection” and a “disembodied future of the soul” (37). But this view shifted with Christ’s resurrection where new creation became central and a greater emphasis was placed on the transformation of the newly resurrected body (43). Rather than looking at heaven as a far away place, we should see it as God’s presence full of peace as we wait for the final new creation (150). Wright also shows how elements of Christian spirituality such as baptism, Eucharist, prayer, scripture, holiness, and love can point towards our ultimate hope for new creation. Out of the three books I read this semester, I probably enjoyed Surprised by Hope the most. Inherently, I had always known my emphasis should be on new creation, but with stereotypical views of heaven aka the pearly gates as well as the corruption we see everyday on earth, it’s easy to believe ultimate peace would be escaping into heaven and leaving the corruption behind. But, Wright emphasizes we should work hard today by working towards a cleaner environment, fighting injustice, and spreading Christianity because our world will be used in new creation. I think Christians and non-Christians alike would be interested in this book. Heaven is a concept prevalent in popular culture, it’s common to see heaven and hell portrayed in cartoons, jokes, TV shows etc. I think this book would interest someone who has wondered what heaven should look like and how Christians view our work today as benefiting us in the future.
           
I am recommending Surprised By Hope by N. T. Wright to be read within seven weeks of the start of the course, for the depth with which it covers the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hope is quite useful for the purpose of instruction, specifically on what it means for us as Christians that Jesus is risen. The question is simple, the answer is long. A recurring theme in the book is that what has happened to Jesus will happen to us. By Jesus having been resurrected, new creation has begun, guaranteeing that God will fully redeem the world (Wright 67).
Wright also spends a great deal of time discussing how reasonable the resurrection is. (Wright 61). This is one of the greatest strengths of Hope. Wright demonstrates faith in the resurrection to be far from blind, outlining how all of the historical evidence surrounding the event points to its authenticity. This provides Christians with a great deal of confidence, as we are accustomed mostly to being told the resurrection is ridiculous, dead people do not live again (Wright 61). Seeing one’s faith to be reasonable is refreshing, and Hope allows this to happen.
The largest claim which seems to be made by Hope is that the resurrection provides far more hope than the prospect of going to heaven. By Jesus having been resurrected, death has been defeated, so it does not make sense to want to retreat from this world. Instead we are promised to be resurrected as well, meaning that death shall leave this world, not us (Wright 99-100).