Surprised? Nope. But Hopeful Anyway.

Bishop Wright (of New Perspective on Paul fame, but a seemingly devout, earnest and all around good-guy evangelical for all that) passionately believes that the way to combat Platonic gnosticism ("the material world -- and our material bodies -- are evil and will be destroyed; our only hope is a spiritual heaven that transcends materialism") is by reemphasizing the Biblical teaching on the past physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus and the future physical, bodily resurrection of His followers (and, not incidentally, the redemption of the entire physical world). If the world and our bodies are worth saving and re-creating for the New Jerusalem, the logic goes, then the physical, material world we live in now and those who live in it with us must be worth caring about and working to improve. It's not just about going to heaven when we die; instead, it's about loving people NOW and working to improve the creation NOW.

Wright's thesis seems perfectly sound. The title doesn't fit, though, at least in my view. While I haven't necessarily heard the case of caring about this present world and the people in it put in these terms, I learned long ago that God cares about these things and that we ought to do so as well. My own path to seeing this truth was through a shift in my understanding of the "end times" from a premillenial, rapture-based view (think the "Left Behind" series) to a more Reformed, at least vaguely postmillenial view (God works through us to redeem creation to usher in the kingdom). The conclusions one might draw from these differing views are fairly obvious. If the world is going to get worse and worse until Jesus comes and raptures His people away, and then there will be seven years of tribulation for those who remain, there really isn't much point in working for cultural renewal now; that's just "polishing the brass on a sinking ship". All that matters now is saving souls. On the other hand, if Jesus isn't coming back until the creation has been made "kingdom ready" by the church and its people, then we'd better get busy building churches, schools, families, nations and cultural institutions that are kingdom-oriented. Bishop Wright does briefly note the role of eschatology in these matters, but he paints it as a symptom of the problem rather than the main cause.

It could be that the eschatological problem is a peculiarly American evangelical problem, which would explain why it resonates so much with me but not Bishop Wright, who is Anglican. It may be that Bishop Wright has crafted a Biblically-based way to reach folks outside of American evangelicalism with the message of the importance of cultural renewal. If so, then this book is an important achievement.

A few personal notes -- Wright lets his politics show a little here, and the picture isn't pretty. "As far as I can see, the major task that faces us in our generation, corresponding to the issue of slavery two centuries ago, is that of the massive economic imbalance of the world, whose major symptom is the ridiculous and unpayable Third World debt." (page 216). Yes, yes, I agree that the Third World debt is ridiculous, and it may well be unpayable, and I am very sympathetic generally speaking with the campaign to forgive it. But "the major task that faces us in our generation"? That's way over the top. I'd think our biggest challenges are defeating Islamic extremism and protecting basing human rights in places like China, Tibet, Sudan and North Korea.

As an Anglican and world-class theologian, Wright is part of a very broad conversation, theologically speaking. Therefore, his book takes on arguments from all over the spectrum, some of which are so beyond the pale of Biblical orthodoxy that they don't seem worth his time to me. But again, as noted above, I'm probably not his primary audience. It's good to know someone as qualified and talented as Bishop Wright is writing for whoever his audience is. It's certainly a lot bigger than mine!