Lecture Listening Guides

by Dr. David Capes

Lecturer: N. T. Wright

Title:  “Resurrection and the Renewal of Creation”

Date: November 16, 2018

1.      What is the typical, western view of what happens at death?

2.     Where does Wright say this view has come from? Why is it deficient?

3.     What is purgatory?  Why did reformers reject the doctrine?  How have modern Catholic theologians redefined it?

4.     What does Wright mean by his phrase “life after life after death”?  Why does Wright say the NT has little to say about what happens at death?

5.     What does the Greek word translated “resurrection” mean?

6.     In Luke 23, Jesus tells the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” What does “paradise” mean?

7.     How resurrection a political doctrine?

8.     What are two overriding theological ideas (“constraints”) that come from the Hebrew Scriptures?  The goodness of creation and God’s commitment to justice

9.     How does Platonism view this present world and our escape from it?

10.  How do resurrection and new creation relate?

11.  The first creation is “out of nothing.”  What about the new creation?

12.  How should resurrection redefine Christian cosmology?  What does Ephesians say to that?

13.  What are the key areas of mission for God’s resurrection people?

14.  Why is it not enough simply to “believe” in the resurrection?

15.  What is the relationship between “the present, evil age” and the new creation?

16.  How does our current physical reality compare with the future bodily reality?

17.  What is the connection between Jesus’ second coming and resurrection/renewal?

18.  Why does Wright propose the notion that at death our bodies are cast aside and our soul goes to heaven is not the defeat of death but a description of it?

19.  In Revelation 21-22 the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven and there is no more “sea”?  How does Wright interpret those?

20.  What is the vocation of the Church?

21.  What does the new creation look like in your context?

22.  What does the new creation look like in care of the planet?

23.  How should resurrection people think about the beauty of this world?  How should art (painting, music, dance, drama, and poetry) figure into our churches?

24.  What does Wright mean when he says God is other than creation but not outside creation?