Community Book Study – Week 1
Fr. David Radzik will be leading a Community Book Study on N.T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.
September 14 – November 16, 2026
Mondays at 7:30 p.m.
St. Luke’s Parish House Library & Zoom
About Surprised by Hope
For years Christians have been asking, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Award-winning author N. T. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian’s future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright, who is one of today’s premier Bible scholars, asserts that Christianity’s most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection. He provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus and shows how this became the cornerstone for the Christian community’s hope in the bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the age. Wright then explores our expectation of “new heavens and a new earth,” revealing what happens to the dead until then and what will happen with the “second coming” of Jesus. 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.
Schedule of Readings:
Week 1 | September 14
Introduction & Chapter 1 — The meaning of Christian hope
Week 2 | September 21
Chapters 2–3 — Resurrection in historical context
Week 3 | September 28
Chapters 4–5 — Death, judgment, and God’s victory
Week 4 | October 5
Chapters 6–7 — Heaven, hell, and new creation
Week 5 | October 12
Chapters 8–9 — Resurrection and Christian mission
Week 6 | October 19
Chapters 10–11 — Rethinking salvation
Week 7 | October 26
Chapters 12–14 — Justice, beauty, evangelism,
and the ascension
Week 8 | November 2
Chapters 15–16 & Conclusion — Hope in practice
Week 9 | November 16
Wrap‑Up Session — Reflection and communal
conversation
