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Surprised by Hope
- Original, Provocative and Practical
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Categories: Religion & Spirituality, Christianity
Non-member price: $24.31
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“Jesus - the Jesus we might discover if we really looked,” explains Wright, “is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we had ever imagined. We have successfully managed to hide behind other questions and to avoid the huge, world-shaking challenge of Jesus’s central claim and achievement. It is we, the churches, who have been the real reductionists. We have reduced the kingdom of God to private piety; the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience; Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark tale. Piety, conscience, and ultimate happiness are important...."
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Christianity is the most widespread global belief system and promises to remain so well into the future. But for many educated Westerners, biblical Christianity is a dangerous idea - challenging some of their deepest beliefs. Channeling state-of-the-art research, personal stories, and careful biblical study, Confronting Christianity explores 12 questions that keep many of us from considering faith in Christ.
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In 2012, Jonathan Cahn caused a worldwide sensation with the release of his first book, The Harbinger. It was hailed as "stunning", "prophetic", "mind-blowing", and "astonishing". Cahn followed it with best seller after best seller, but he has always held off on writing a sequel. But now, for the first time, Cahn opens up what could not be unlocked before - the mysteries that couldn’t be revealed until the present time, the manifestations that have taken place since The Harbinger came out and up to the present hour, and the mysteries of what is yet to come.
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Have we been taught to discount the veracity and deeper meaning of our emotional resonance with the world around us? In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis looks at the curriculum of the English "prep school" and begins to wonder if this subliminal teaching has indeed produced a generation who discount such a nature.
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Overall
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Many people think the message of the Gospel is that if we believe in Jesus, we will be saved from hell and be transported to heaven after we die. But what if that is not what the Bible actually teaches? What if the good news Jesus came to announce is much bigger, much better, and includes much more than merely what happens after we die? Revered best-selling scholar N. T. Wright reveals what the gospel really is and how it can transform our todays just as much as our tomorrows.
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Informative and easy to listen too.
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A Theology of Luke and Acts: Audio Lectures
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The Zondervan Biblical and Theological Lectures series provides a unique audio learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, A Theology of Luke and Acts: Audio Lectures includes high-quality live recordings of college-level lectures that cover the important points from each subject as well as relevant material from other sources. In A Theology of Luke and Acts: Audio Lectures, top New Testament scholar Darrell L. Bock offers an in-depth study of Luke's Gospel and the book of Acts.
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Evil and the Justice of God
- By: N. T. Wright
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- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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With every earthquake and war, understanding the nature of evil and our response to it becomes more urgent. Evil is no longer the concern just of ministers and theologians but also of politicians and the media. We hear of child abuse, ethnic cleansing, AIDS, torture and terrorism, and rightfully we are shocked. N. T. Wright says that we should not be surprised. For too long we have naively believed in the modern idea of human progress.
Publisher's Summary
What do Christians hope for? To leave this wicked world and go to 'heaven'? For the 'kingdom of God' to grow gradually on earth? What do we mean by the 'resurrection of the body', and how does that fit with the popular image of sitting on clouds playing harps? And how does all this affect the way we live in the here and now?
Tom Wright, one of our leading theologians, addresses these questions in this provocative and wide-ranging new book. He outlines the present confusion about future hope in both church and world. Then, having explained why Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus himself, he explores the biblical hope for 'new heavens and new earth' and shows how the 'second coming' of Jesus, and the eventual resurrection, belong within that larger picture, together with the intermediate hope for 'heaven'.
For many, including many Christians, all this will come as a great surprise.
Wright convincingly argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death. For if God intends to renew the whole creation - and if this has already begun in Jesus's resurrection - the church cannot stop at 'saving souls' but must anticipate the eventual renewal by working for God's kingdom in the wider world, bringing healing and hope in the present life.
Lively and accessible, this book will surprise and excite all who are interested in the meaning of life not only after death but before it.
Tom Wright is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of over 50 books.
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What listeners say about Surprised by Hope
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dennis Acraman
- 01-06-2020
Hmmm
I enjoyed this book initially as a counterpoint to my own end times understandings. While reading it, I also decided to purchase the book. I liked the references to Jewish traditional teachings and wanted to see if these had been referenced in the book so I can look them up in context. Some of Wrights statements need citation to undergird his academic speak because of the gravity of the points being made. Looking forward to dissecting the book further. I find his future new creation concept compelling given Jewish messianic expectation.
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- Fraser Jeremy Clark
- 31-07-2020
Agree with a lot
Yes, get Tom Wright's point that as Christians we frequently omit stage 2 life after life after death, and physical resurrection. But it takes Tom 17 chapters to explain this and its implications for living as members of God's inaugurated Kingdom here on earth. How would he explain this to a child or someone enquiring about Christian faith but with little Bible knowledge- no wonder Christians stop at step 1, Paradise = Heaven and leave it up to God for step2...
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