August 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Exploring Heaven: What Great Christian Thinkers Tell Us About Our Afterlife with God
Arthur O. Roberts
Harper San Francisco, 240 pages, $21.95

With logic and vivid imagination, Quaker philosopher, academic, and poet Arthur Roberts eschews heaven as a static destination and instead offers his own compelling vision of the afterlife.

Where is heaven? What is it like? Who will be there? What will we be? What will we do when we're there? As Roberts tackles each question, he lays out historical and contemporary theories that he gently critiques before unfolding his own views. He believes that heaven has a continuity with the created order we now enjoy (without evil and suffering), and that in the afterlife people will be truly present in bodily form, retaining their identity and personality, but with their abilities enhanced.

"We'll be more than information bytes downloaded onto an eternal supercomputer," he writes. "We will do things like caring for our bodies, working, playing, socializing, sharing affection, and worshiping."

Nothing is too small in his reflection, from the nature of angels to the possibility of animals in heaven (he confesses he is perplexed, but hopes they will be there). This lucid, beautifully written book will inspire Christians to exult with Roberts as he writes, "What a wonder, that God lets us share the glory!"

Exploring Heaven is available at Christianbook.com and other retailers.

In June, John Stackhouse wrote an essay for Christianity Today called "Harleys in Heaven" that looked at what Christians have thought of the afterlife, and what difference it makes now.

"Harleys in Heaven" looked at several heaven books including: Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang's Heaven: A History, J. Edward ...