Knowing I would have a few hours to spare here and there on a recent visit to Rovaniemi, just outside the Finnish Arctic Circle (setting of the Sauna episodes in The Demise of Sir Toby’s), I took Tom Wright’s Surprised by Hope with me. I had bought the book some time ago, but irritated by a remark I thought I had seen somewhere that this book made Wright the C.S. Lewis of the 21^st century, I put the book down, having skim-read it, thinking ‘Oh no he isn’t!’. I must have been mistaken about the book. Surprised by Hope is midway between popular and academic theology (I’ve yet to read Wright’s ‘popular’ books), and apologetics it isn’t. Rather, as the title suggests, it is a fresh look at the resurrection, and the nature of Christian hope. I became more enthralled the more I read, finishing the book quickly, and returning to read parts of it more slowly.

A few days ago Andrew Perriman posted a sort of review and a list of comments regarding Kevin Beck’s book titled This Book Will Change Your World.  In response to my comments, Andrew also had a couple of questions about the resurrection, especially about 1 Thes. 4 and 1 Cor. 15.  This is a response to the questions Andrew raised about the resurrection, not just recently but also in the past.   Hundreds of pages can be written on these two passages, and I am hoping that however inadequate of a response, Andrew together with the readers of Open Source Theology will enjoy these arguments and interact in a constructive and meaningful way.

James Lovelock argues in The Vanishing Face of Gaia - to be published in the UK on 26th February - that the earth is suffering from a terrible and probably incurable sickness caused by human industrial and agricultural activity, that the various therapeutic technologies and practices currently being developed offer at best an illusory hope of saving the planet and at worst are likely to exacerbate the problem, and that politicians should abandon the effort to avert the crisis and instead set their minds to the challenge of living with the devastating consequences of climate change. Indeed, 'living' may barely be an option: 'I am not a willing Cassandra,' he writes, 'and in the past have been publicly sceptical about doom stories, but this time we do have to take seriously the possibility that global heating may all but eliminate people from the Earth.'

Andrew Perriman was recently interviewed about his views on eschatology ("endtimes").  During the interview it became apparent that the interviewer was constantly trying to associate Andrew’s views with his own.  By the end of the interview, Andrew appeared to be a little annoyed with the interviewer’s constant appeal to his own sectarian views.

I followed a trail from Kurt’s user biography here on Open Source Theology to his blog to some reflections by John MacArthur on the ultimate futility of environmentalist activism:

The environmental movement is consumed with trying to preserve the planet forever. But we know that isn’t in God’s plan.

The earth we inhabit is not a permanent planet. It is, frankly, a disposable planet - it is going to have a very short life. It’s been around six thousand years or so - that’s all - and it may last a few thousand more. And then the Lord is going to destroy it.

I’ve told environmentalists that if they think humanity is wrecking the planet, wait until they see what Jesus does to it. Peter says God is going to literally turn it in on itself in an atomic implosion so that the whole universe goes out of existence (2 Peter 3:7-13).