Easter 2009 reflections

So I hope you had a good Easter season. I interestingly spent the Lenten season this year reading Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright. I didn’t entirely intend on reading this, but I thought it appropriate when I realized I was doing it. It is a great book, and one that I’d highly recommend.

In it, N. T. Wright spends a good deal of time on the resurrection from a historical, scientifically aware sense (that it could have happened, according to the facts we have) as well as a theological sense (that it is right for God to have caused it to happen), and deals skillfully with the cultural and theological situations in which the people who encountered Jesus lived, and is among those best qualified to write this kind of stuff.

And I think this part of the book is essential. I love it. But the genius of the book is that it doesn’t stop with that. It looks at what it means. It looks at why it is appropriate for the resurrection to shape the way we live our lives in light of the fact that this Event began the kingdom of God in which we are to live today, because we can and must work to bring that culture to life.

From a different angle, I also spent some time listening to and reading about the Judas gathering that took place at Ikon in Belfast. I would encourage you to spend time with it as well. It is a fascinating look at Judas, and is the kind of art with the capability to shake you, as the best art does, if you allow it to do so.

• 13 Apr 2009
• Comments 0
• Posted In books, spirituality