Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Surprised By Hope 2

Resurrection is the central event of the Christian faith.  NT Wright has written a masterful book that explores resurrection and what that means for followers of Jesus.  I have been reading through Wright's book to help bolster my understanding of resurrection.  Below are some "money" quotes from my reading today:

"Jesus of Nazareth ushers in not simply a new religious possibility, not simply a new ethic or a new way of salvation, but a new creation."  p. 67

"Hope, for the Christian, is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism.  It is a mode of knowing, a mode within which new things are possible, options are not shut down, new creation can happen."  p.72

What strikes me about these quotes and about resurrection are:
1. God is not static, but dynamically working in creation to bring about restorative justice
2. The resurrection of Jesus is the event where we see God conquering the powers of sin and death to usher in the new creation (i.e. the Kingdom of the Heavens) as a reality
3. Hope is a way of living recognizing God's movement and the future possibilities that God has for the creation, including you and me.

Lastly, I believe a robust understanding of the resurrection helps move Christianity from a set of propositional ideas or "truths" to an embodied and incarnate faith that changes the world in participation with the movement of the God of Creation.

No comments:

Post a Comment