Dear Theophilus

Here is Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 and Part 4 : This is the final part of my review of one of my favorite books. This book explains a comprehensive view of Christianity based on a proper eschatology (end-times) centered around resurrection. Highly recommend that you all buy this book! You can borrow mine, but I want it back because it is autographed... :) Chapter 13 This chapter is titled “Building for the Kingdom.” Inherently in the title, Wright wants to make clear that we don’t build the Kingdom; we build for it. God is always the architect. He has a great analogy about stonemasons carving out different pieces for the construction of a cathedral. The mason probably hasn’t even seen the blueprints but his work will go towards the final project (p. 210). This analogy is couched in an admittedly mysterious truth that our work will not be in vain (1 Cor. 15), that our work will be apart of the new creation, that our labor and work for the Lord will be apart of the future. ...

  Here is Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 : This is a small, reviewish type piece about a book I adore. I like to mostly summarize and quote, so not really a critical review, but whatever! Surprised by Hope is fantastic, hopefully you are inspired. Read it: Chapter 11 The 11 th Chapter is entitled “Purgatory, Paradise, Hell.” For such a huge undertaking, there are not a lot of surprises. In tackling purgatory, he tackles the medieval (and earlier) idea that there is a hierarchy of Christians. There is: the Church Triumphant or those saints who already made it to heaven, the church expectant are those who are in purgatory or are awaiting heaven and finally the church militant which are those still alive “fighting the good fight of the faith” (p. 165). Wright finds this hierarchy and also Purgatory to be a complete misunderstanding of Scripture. He is adamant and a little pointed about this (“I think with great respect that you ought to see not a theologian but a th...

Here is Part 1 and Part 2 : This is a small, reviewish type piece about a book I adore. I like to mostly summarize and quote, so not really a critical review, but whatever! Surprised by Hope is fantastic, hopefully you are inspired. Read it: Chapter 7 This Chapter entitled “Jesus, Heaven, and New Creation” seemed a bit disconnected. And though I am loving this book tremendously and think it should be required reading by all Christians, this chapter could use a rewrite. Wright begins by talking about the importance of the Ascension. This is the event recorded mostly by Luke, where Jesus floats ‘up’ and disappears behind a cloud. There appears besides the Apostles two men dressed in white (angels?) and they ask why they are standing and staring into the sky and then reveal that Jesus will come back the same way. The significance of the story that Wright is portraying to us is multi-fold: (1) That Jesus is in bodily form in Heaven and didn’t just assume back into the...

Mormonism / The faith of Latter-Day Saints has been in the news recently and I have been thinking about all my mormon friends. On top of the media excitement, for months I have been seeing these web commercials showing three scenes of a person, living life in a happy and exciting way concluding with "... and I'm a Mormon." A lot of times these ads feature people of color or people who seem to be near the extremes socially (i.e. hard-core motorcycle riders, hippie looking grandmothers).  Now I am seeing commercials of the same brand, often back to back. Hawaiian Surfer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pjNWvEMYwo Free-spirited mother, artist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaEgGZnZcos&feature=pyv High-speed motorcycle rider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hr75CYmHI8 A "Black Mormon" urban school teacher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OtpU_YC7n4 It even made the news: http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-new-im-a-mormon-ad-campaign-to-hit-seattle-201...

Here is PART 1 if you are so inclined... Again, this book has been amazing! Loved it. I am skipping chapters 3 and 4 and heading right to 5 and 6: Chapter 5 Wright begins that chapter with a discussion on where we are to begin. He explains that in the medieval period a greater emphasis was placed on the individual. There is a reward for individuals, he says, but he suggests that we should, and are going to in this book, start with a much bigger question: “What is God’s purpose for the world as a whole?” (p. 80). Wright then describes myths that we currently have in society and why they are ineffective. He titles the first one, “Evolutionary Optimism,” he subtitles this one with “the myth of progress.” The premise is that evolution is a much broader thing then biology and it has given us an idea that progress is good and will eventually lead to some sort of utopia. Marxism, Darwinism, technology, politics all play on this worldview. Wright then tells us that “the re...