all things new -- a book review

John Eldredge's All Things News:  Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love is a book written to address what Eldredge calls "the great crisis of hope" -- Christians who long for the ideal afterlife instead of working for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as in heaven.  Citing political and economic instability, rising suicide rates, and increasing use of antidepressants as the crisis, he asks his Christian readership to stop longing for an ideal afterlife and instead find paradise here on Earth by thinking differently about the end goals of Christianity.

This little book turns the book of Revelation on its head, because as Eldredge rightly points out, there is a "Great Restoration" at the end of the story:  "Death is utterly swept away at the Great Restoration. You will be completely renewed -- body, soul, and spirit".  He writes openly of the deaths he has encountered in his years of ministry, and of the spiritual retreat in which he literally shouted to God.  He came back with the knowledge, he writes, that true transcendence (in the form of the Great Restoration) will happen on Earth.  Punctuated with quotes from writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Eldredge's homey, imaginative book will inspire readers looking renew their faith.

This is an amazing book that will transform so much of what we Christians see and experience and hope in the world.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”