In this groundbreaking book-available in audio for the first time-renowned Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author N. T. Wright argues that Christians never have distorted the Bible’s message about heaven and what goes on after we pass away.

For a long time, Christians have already been asking, ‘If you died tonight, do you know where you’ll go?’ As it happens that lots of believers have been giving the wrong answer. It isn’t heaven.

Wright outlines today’s confusion about a Christian’s potential hope on the subject of Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, as well as the Mission of the Cathedral and shows how it really is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright asserts that Christianity’s most distinctive idea is physical resurrection, and a magisterial protection for any literal resurrection of Jesus. Wright after that explores our expectation of ‘fresh heavens and a fresh earth,’ exposing what happens to the deceased until then and exactly what will happen with the ‘second coming’ of Jesus. For many, including many Christians, it will come as an excellent surprise to learn that heaven comes to earth rather than us likely to heaven.

Wright convincingly argues that what we should believe about lifestyle after loss of life directly affects what we believe about existence before loss of life. For if God intends to renew the whole creation-and if this has already started in Jesus’s resurrection-the cathedral cannot stop at ‘keeping souls’ but must anticipate the eventual renewal by doing work for God’s kingdom in the wider globe, bringing healing and hope in today’s life.