You Are Not Going to Heaven (and why it doesn't matter) - Softcover

Bergen, Wes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1620326124 ISBN 13: 9781620326121

Publisher: Wipf and Stock, 2013

Synopsis

Honesty. Humility. The purpose and future of the church. Useful and not useful parts of the Bible. A doctrine of salvation that includes mosquitoes. These are some of the topics dealt with in this controversial book. Written for those who still have hope for the church as well as those who don't, Wes Bergen's aim is to cast a vision of the church beyond divine fire insurance. Bergen's contention is that salvation is something that either happens here and now, on this earth, or not at all. Salvation is something that happens to bodies. More importantly, salvation is something that either will happen on this earth or we risk making the world uninhabitable by human beings. Souls are irrelevant when the air is dirty, the water is undrinkable, and there isn't enough to eat. These are the things that the Bible really cares about and form the building blocks for the salvation that God offers. This is also why this book is not about heaven. The Bible is not a manual for getting to heaven. The Bible cares very little about heaven and neither should you. Salvation is about what happens to bodies on Tuesday rather than what we do Sunday morning or what happens to souls after the body dies. Forget about heaven. Either you trust in God or you don't. Now get to work helping salvation happen.

About this title

About the Author:

Wes Bergen has taught for many years at Wichita State University, and will soon begin teaching at Good News Theological College and Seminary in Accra, Ghana. His earlier books include Reading Ritual.

Review:

'''God will take care of heaven,' writes Wes Bergen, 'our task is to take care of the earth.' I fully agree. Clear-eyed about the church's 'scars of our past and wounds of our present,' this book refocuses the Christian conversation concerning both our reading of the Bible and our work in the world. Bergen calls for discipleship commitment to world transformation and somatic wholeness to trump religious preoccupation with an otherworldly salvation of souls.''
--Ched Myers, activist theologian --Wipf and Stock Publishers

About this edition

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1620326124
• ISBN 13: 9781620326121
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176