'I have been increasingly aware of a mismatch between what the earliest Christians believed about life after death--and about resurrection as a newly emnodied life after 'life after death'--and what many ordinary Christians seem to believe on the subject today. Contemporary patterns of belief, both in my own tradition and some others, have had considerable effect on liturgy and worship, and I have come to the conclusion that what we do and say in church at this point is increasingly at odds with anything that can be justified from the Bible or the earliest Christian traditions.' With these robust words popular author N. T. Wright challenges current liturgy and practice surrounding All Saints' and All Souls' Days, and sets out to clarify our thinking about what Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory are, what it means to pray for the dead, and what (and who) the saints are. He suggests biblical ways to celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us. 'In challenging the existence of an eternal soul and questioning the traditional view of heaven, Wright is taking a more biblical approach than most of his more liberal contemporaries,'---The Times (U.K.). |
