Surprised by Hope, by N. T. Wright

Chapter Two

1.  Wright begins with his assertion that Christians are confused about hope.  “The classic Christian position is stated in the early creeds, themselves dependent on the New Testament in ways we shall explore later in the book. In my church, we declare every day and every week that we believe in “the resurrection of the body.” But do we?”

How about us Lutherans?

2.  “‘God’s kingdom’ in the preaching of Jesus refers not to postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign rule coming ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ The roots of the misunderstanding go very deep, not least into the residual Platonism that has infected whole swaths of Christian thinking and has misled people into supposing that Christians are meant to devalue this present world and our present bodies & regard them as shabby or shameful.”

Why is this wrong?

                                                                

3.  “Likewise, the pictures of heaven in the book of Revelation have been much misunderstood. The wonderful description in Revelation 4 and 5 of the twenty-four elders casting their crowns before the throne of God and the lamb, beside the sea of glass, is not, despite one of Charles Wesley’s great hymns, a picture of the last day, with all the redeemed in heaven at last. It is a picture of present reality, the heavenly dimension of our present life. Heaven, in the Bible, is not a future destiny but the other, hidden, dimension of our ordinary life—God’s dimension, if you like. God made heaven and earth; at the last he will remake both and join them together forever. And when we come to the picture of the actual end in Revelation 21–22, we find not ransomed souls making their way to a disembodied heaven, but rather the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth, uniting the two in a lasting embrace.”  

Why is this distinction so crucial to our faith?

4.  “Most Christians today, I fear, never think about this from one year to the next. They remain satisfied with what is at best a truncated and distorted version of the great biblical hope. Indeed, the popular picture is reinforced again and again in hymns, prayers, monuments, and even quite serious works of theology and history. It is simply assumed that the word heaven is the appropriate term for the ultimate destination, the final home, and that the language of resurrection, and of the new earth as well as the new heavens, must somehow be fitted into that.”  

Where do we still see this?

5.  “As the argument of this book develops, it will become clear that we cannot simply regard this as a problem at which we simply shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Well, there are different views on these topics.’ What we say about death and resurrection gives shape and color to everything else. If we are not careful, we will offer merely a ‘hope’ that is no longer a surprise, no longer able to transform lives and communities in the present, no longer generated by the resurrection of Jesus himself and looking forward to the promised new heavens and new earth. Hymns, the Christian year, and ceremonies of death all tell a similar story. Perhaps equally important is the larger theology, and the wider worldview, accompanying the contemporary muddle.”

So how do we change? 

6. “Our task in the present—of which this book, God willing, may form part—is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.”  

What does it mean to live as “Resurrection people?”

Surprised by Hope, by N. T. Wright

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.

Martin Luther: A Life, by James Nestigen

Chapters Nine & Ten

1.  While long-time colleagues, Luther and Melanchthon often did not see eye-to-eye on theological and doctrinal issues, especially on the finer points.  What was the basic difference between Melanchthon’s Augsburg Confession and the unaltered Augsburg Confession?

2.  Who was Johann Agricola, and what was the nature of his relationship with Luther?

                                                                

3.  As the Lutheran reform and the Schmalkald League expanded, the most significant obstacle, aside from the traditional Roman Catholic authorities, was still the southwest Germans and the Swiss. The difference of opinion between Luther and Ulrich Zwingli still blocked the way, even though early in the 1530s Zwingli was killed in a Swiss war. The issue was still the Eucharist.

On what was the disagreement focused?  How did it end?

4.  In 1536, Pope Paul III scheduled a council to review the role of Lutheranism in the life of the Church.  This did not go well.  Luther’s prodigious Schmalkald Articles were intended to clarify Luther’s position, but failed to receive acclaim by the Pope and company.  Luther’s health prevented him from participating fully.  What then came of this effort?

5.  Review Luther’s list of physical ailments in his latter years.  How did they contribute to his temperament and productivity?

6.  Review and discuss Luther’s anti-Semitic positions and comments.  Do they surprise or disappoint you?

7.  How was the Schmalkald League seriously wounded by Philip of Hesse and his “additional” wife?

8.  How did Luther die, and how did the Reformation live on?

Martin Luther: A Life

Chapters Seven & Eight

1.  In 1526, Luther’s health deteriorated on several levels.  What were they and what contributed to them?

2.  What was the target of Luther’s liturgical renewal and reform?

                                                                

3.  What was the Saxon Church Visitation and why did it fair so poorly?  (Spare no humorous details!)

4.  What were the Large & Small Catechisms and why did Luther write them?  How were they received?

5.  Who was Ulrich Zwingli and what did he and Luther debate over?  What was their common ground?

6.  By now, the growing cast of characters in this narrative is getting fuzzy.  Nonetheless, Charles V is striving to walk the fine line between Wittenberg and Rome.  What events led up to the Diet at Augsburg?

7.  What issues were at stake at Augsburg?  What huge role did Melanchthon play in its success?

8.  Even though the negotiations failed, the Augsburg Confession survived.  Why?

9.  What drew Luther to Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and why is his commentary on Galatians still revered?

Martin Luther: A Life

Chapters Five & Six

*Please be prepared to discuss specific details of our reading.

1.  What did Luther write during his stay at the Wartburg?

2.  What was distinctive about Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt?

                                                                

3.  Who were the Humanists, and who was Erasmus of Rotterdam?

4.  How did Erasmus and Luther challenger each other?

5.  What was Luther’s controversial role in The Peasants’ War?

6.  Upon his return to the Wartburg in 1522, Luther addressed “whether and how a person is saved or made right or ‘justified’ by faith.”  How does Christ meet us at the cross?

7.  Who was Katherine von Bora and how did she enter Luther’s life?

8.  What did Katie contribute to the Luther’s marriage and household?

9.  When is a good time to watch the movie on Luther at church?

Martin Luther: A Life, by James Nestigen

Chapters Three & Four

1.  As Nestigen says, “There is good money in bad religion.”  What were indulgences and how were they used and abused?  What enabled John Tetzel to be such an effective indulgence salesman?  How do religious hucksters continue to separate fools and their money today?

2.  “In the years following the explosion out of Wittenberg, Roman Catholic officials made several direct efforts to contain the damage.  Several people got involved with the “fire control,” including Johann Staupitz (by assigning Luther to lecture); Frederick the Wise (who ignored pressure from Rome to preserve his own political and financial control); and theologian Thomas Cardinal Cajetan (who met privately with Luther in a disconcertingly meeting).  Why did none of these curb Luther and his agenda?

                                                                

3.  Describe the relationship between Luther and Philip Melanchthon.  How did they assist each other over the years?

4.  Luther’s theological approach was termed as, “dialectical.”  He often used two extreme positions to arrive at a conclusion somewhere in the middle.  He did so in the “Heidelberg Disputation,” where he set up a contrast between a theology of glory and a theology of the cross.  His basic question:  “How do human beings really come to know God?”  In light of this contrast between glory and the cross, what was Luther’s answer?

5.  What were the effects of Luther’s writings being distributed to the laity via pamphlets (“flugschriften” – flying writings)?  Why were these so effective?

6.  Luther concluded that there are only two sacraments, not seven.  Why did he make this distinction? 

7.  What was Luther’s definition of “Christian freedom?”  How is this different from secular freedom (political & personal)?

8.  Luther was excommunicated in 1520 by the pope.  What was Luther’s “fiery” response? 

9.  What happened at the Diet of Worms?

Martin Luther: A Life

Chapters One & Two

1.  Nestigen begins with the question, “Who was Martin Luther?”  “But there is much more to the identity of Martin Luther, enough to make him forever controversial.”  Prior to reading this book, what was your knowledge/opinion of Martin Luther & his legacy?

2.  Nestigen introduces us to Luther’s parents and his years of upbringing.  What were those years like for Martin?

                                                                

3.  What drove Luther to the monastery?  What was his chief fear?

4.  Luther’s journey as a monk led to both his ordination as a pastor and his academic promotion as a doctor of the Bible and church…assuming “another public office, swearing to uphold the church’s witness as well as its theology, its thinking about Scripture, and its tradition.”  His plate was full.  Why was Luther still doubtful of himself?

5.  Luther was drawn to both the Psalms and to Paul’s writings.  He was particularly engaged with the “‘righteousness of God,’ a phrase from the Psalms and from Paul’s writings that became Luther’s point of focus.’”  This led to the question, “How do I find a gracious God?”  Identifying with Luther, what theological questions linger for you?  Is there one, in particular, that stays at the forefront of your thinking and reflection as a Christian?

6.  Luther gets some relief from his doubts as he embraces his newfound understanding that, “The merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”  “Luther immediately felt ‘as though reborn.’”  Thus, God gives us what he commands…allowing us to respond in the only way we can: by faith, and not by works.  Why did this comfort Luther, and why should it comfort us?