Chapter One
1. “This book addresses
two questions that have often been dealt with entirely separately but that, I
passionately believe, belong tightly together. First, what is the ultimate
Christian hope? Second, what hope is there for change, rescue, transformation,
new possibilities within the world in the present? And the main answer can be
put like this. As long as we see Christian hope in terms of ‘going to heaven,’
of a salvation that is essentially away from this world, the two questions are
bound to appear as unrelated.”
- What does Wright
mean by this?
2. “I am convinced that
most people, including most practicing Christians, are muddled and misguided on
this topic and that this muddle produces quite serious mistakes in our thinking,
our praying, our liturgies, our practice, and perhaps particularly our mission
to the world. Often people assume that Christians are
simply committed to a belief in ‘life after death’ in the most general terms
and have no idea how the more specific notions of resurrection, judgment, the
second coming of Jesus, and so on fit together and make any sense—let alone how
they relate to the urgent concerns of today’s real world.”
- Discuss examples of
where you see these scenarios played out.
3. “The main beliefs
that emerge in the present climate seem to me of three types, none of which
corresponds to Christian orthodoxy. First,
some believe in complete annihilation; that is at least clean and tidy, however
unsatisfying it may be as an account of human destiny. Also on the fringe of New Age ideas is a revival of the views we
discovered in Shelley, a sort of low-grade, popular nature religion with
elements of Buddhism. Finally, at the
popular level, belief in ghosts and the possibility of spiritualistic contact
with the dead has resisted all the inroads of a century of secularism. In
particular, most people have little or no idea what the word resurrection
actually means or why Christians say they believe it. What is more worrying,
this multiple ignorance seems often to be true in the churches as
well.
- Identify the factors
that have contributed to this reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment