Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, And The Mission Of The Church

Gnosticism is a blanket term for various mystically oriented philosophies that influenced early Christianity but were eventually declared heretical. Gnostic thinkers developed Plato’s dualistic idea of spirit and matter and his idea of philosophers as an elite group possessed of superior knowledge. Wright argues that Platonic ideas entered Christianity through Gnostic channels starting in the second century and that they remain as a “residue” or subconscious influence on the way many Christians think about their faith.

Parousia is a Greek word meaning “presence” and is traditionally understood to refer in the New Testament to Jesus’ second coming. Wright argues that the term, which originally described a royal visit in Greco-Roman culture, referred to Jesus’ presence in spirit among his followers in this life while emphasizing his authority over the earth and the fact that he would eventually come again to rule in bodily form. Thus, Parousia alludes to the mixture of presence and absence that defines the way that believers experience Jesus in this life in anticipation of their eventual meeting with him in the future life.

Especially in Roman Catholic belief, purgatory is a place or state following death in which souls are purified of less serious sins and thus made ready for heaven. Wright argues against the belief in purgatory as such, insisting that death itself affects the “purging” of sin and that the only two postmortem states are heaven and hell. However, Wright approves of modern Roman Catholic tendencies to think of Jesus himself as the “fire of judgment” that purifies the soul and of souls becoming aware of the effect of their sins on creation in general after death as being possible dimensions of life after death.

The Rapture is a belief, mostly associated with evangelical Protestantism, that “both living and dead believers will ascend into heaven to meet Jesus at the Second Coming” (Stefon, Matt. “The Rapture.” Britannica, 27 May 2024). The Rapture forms a part of millenarian and apocalyptic thought in general, which often emphasizes Christ coming again to earth.

Wright roundly rejects the belief in the Rapture as unbiblical, insisting that the New Testament prophesies refer to Jesus returning to reign on earth, not believers going up to meet him in heaven. Wright stresses that the prophesies are “highly charged metaphors, not literal description” (133). His rejection of the Rapture is consistent with his emphasis on the effects of the resurrection on this world.