Surprised by Hope - NT Wright

Has anyone read this? What did you think?

I'm reading it now and enjoying the brain exercise. Quick thoughts:

• eschatology determines ecclesiology

• the church is the sign/foretaste of and also the means by which God brings about ultimate salvation (sign + instrument = sacrament)

I think it's important to link ecclesiology with eschatology. What we believe about our future influences how we live in the present. (I argued for this in my MTS thesis.)

More thoughts later...


~lg

The Spirit and the physical

What is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the physical world? Are the two opposed? Does one get in the way of the other? Does the Spirit work through the material realm or in spite of it? Do we see the Spirit as an invisible force, a supernatural airstream moving through the spiritual realm? Or is the Spirit involved in matter, bodies, the stuff of life on earth? Does the Spirit lift us up out of material weakness, or does he sanctify our material existence? Are these either/or questions or both/and questions?

Where have Pentecostals typically located the Spirit’s presence?

I think these pneumatological questions are also related to how we view the church, or our ecclesiology. If the Spirit is a co-creator of the church, the one who builds us into Christ’s body, the Spirit who indwells and empowers the church, then what we believe about the Spirit affects what we believe about who we are and what our mission is.

~lg