parables of a prodigal world

Chapters 8 & 9 When He Appears & Jesus the Coming Judge The 2-chapter discussion on the historical Christian doctrine of Jesus' "second-coming" actually begins at the end of Chapter 7, where Wright introduces the topic by identifying the two prevailing modern misconceptions about the doctrine. One is the literalist "Left Behind" theology present in much of the fundamentalist or "dispensationalist" segment of the church, the propnents of which have naturally tended to believe that if the world is literally going to come to an end and that Jesus is literally going to snatch "true believers" away from it and up to a place called heaven, then why worry about acid rain, or third world debt, or war, or injustice, here on earth. Working and worrying about such things, as Wright often says, would then be like "oiling the wheels of a car that's about to go over a cliff." The other misconception is precisely the liberal reaction t...

Chapter 7 Jesus, Heaven and New Creation PREAMBLE: You can read a new Time Magazine interview with Wright about "Surprised by Hope" here . Before directly tackling the subject of the resurrection, Wright begins here to clear away some of the brush regarding some related issues, the aim being, I assume, that when we do get to resurrection, a complete and unmuddled picture will emerge. Chapter 7 deals primarily with the doctrine of the ascension, and is a preamble to a fuller discussion of the "second coming," which will be more fully treated in Chapter 8. He begins with the ascension, primarily because of the prevailing but erroneous notion that the phrases "Jesus is raised from the dead" and "Jesus is ascended into heaven" are two ways of saying essentially the same thing. Wright disputes both the somewhat childish view that, at the ascension, Jesus did somthing of a vertical take-off (and the Christian art which often leads to this image), as we...

In light of today's official U.S. release of Surprised by Hope , I was contemplating changing the name of this series from "The Pirate Review" to something else, maybe "Just a Plain Old Review." But in a heated 45 minute discussion with a reknowned expert on international law (who has expressed his desire to remain unnamed), I may still be liable for Days 1-4 of this review. So its still technically a "pirate review." But enough with the formalities. Let's get on with the show. International law be damned. Chapter 6 What The Whole World's Waiting For In Chapter 5, Wright had delineated and discussed the two most prevalent views about the "destiny of the universe" in the world today, "the myth of progress" and "the myth of souls in transit." In Chapter 6, he sets forth the biblical, historical Christian vision of the cosmic destiny, in contrast to those discussed in the previous chapter: "The early Christians d...

One day until the official U.S. release of Surprised by Hope. Peace is in sight. The bright horizon looms... Or would they prosecute retroactively!? Of course they would! What's done is done. The powers have been besmirched! They must have their revenge!! Oh, God!! Sorry. Anyways... Chapter 5 Cosmic Future: Progress or Despair? In this Chapter, Wright examines the two dominant but polar-opposite views about the destiny of the universe. One is the "myth of progress," the view that the universe is steadily progressing toward an ultimate Utopia. Wright chronicles the development of this view as starting from the Renaissance, gaining steam during the Enlightenment, and hitting its peak with Charles Darwin (not by Darwin himself, but but by those who latched on to his hypotheses and applied it to areas well beyond the narrow biological sphere which they belonged). The problem with the myth of progress, according to Wright, is that it cannot deal with Evil: it cannot stop it, i...