At this point I wish to diverge from summarising content. Here, the book begins to talk about alternate pictures of the future, particularly contrasting what he calls evolutionary optimism (that we’ll eventually make everything right), and Gnosticism. It is the latter that I’d like to dwell upon.

Gnosticism has undergone a renaissance in the last century; the Gnostic gospels (Thomas, Philip, and Mary Magdalene among them) have been published, reached the mainstream in films such as the Da Vinci Code and Stigmata. People often wonder why they were excluded from the canon. Basically, it was because they believed that the material world was evil by definition, and that certain people, armed with the right knowledge (gnosis), could escape into the spiritual world – heaven. Specifically, the world was evil because of it’s transience – because summer is followed by autumn and winter, because men go from youth to old age, because day gives way to night.

There were, of course, many kinds of Gnosticism, all believing subtly different things, but the the basic gist is that the material world is evil, the heavenly realm is good, and our goal is to get from one to another. ‘The created world is at best irrelevant, at worst a dark, evil, gloomy place, and we immortal souls, who existed originally in different sphere, are looking forward to returning to it as soon as we’re allowed to’. But at the heart of this is something that I feel denigrates our God-given place in creation. Biblically, it’s not a Christian view of the that future involves the end of the created order and a ghostly destiny. It’s a Gnostic one.

Creation is not evil: It is good (Genesis 1:31). There is no ontological evil in the bible, and certainly creation doesn’t fill that role. Evil comes about due to the choices we make. Hence redemption is not freeing our immortal souls from their evil earthly shells, but freeing us from the physical and spiritual slavery our wrong choices bind us into, and hence must involve redeeming our bodies as well as our soul.

What’s more, the biblical metaphors that describe redemption are contrary to this Gnostic world view. There are many of these: 1 Corinthians 15:20 speaks of Jesus resurrection as firstfruits. But surely the point of firstfruits is that there will be many more? Philippians 3 speaks of the citizens of Heaven: “…all knew what citizenship meant. First, it was aimed at extending Roman influence around the Mediterranean world, creating cells and networks of people who were loyal to Caesar in the wider culture. Secondly, it was one way of avoiding the problem of overcrowding in the capital itself…”, “What he means is that the savior, the Lord, Jesus the King – all of which were of course imperial titles – will come from heaven to earth, to change the present situation and state of his people.” Romans 8 speaks of new birth, which of course involves the breaking of one into two, not the return of the child to the womb, and Revelation 21 and 22 speak of the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven like a bride adorned for her husband; this certainly contrasts the view of us being whisked off into Heaven. Our ascension to heaven forever after being freed from our flesh is a myth with little biblical support.

But why is this close to my heart? Because of how often I hear Pastors quoting Paul, and saying “I can’t wait to go to Heaven, which is much better”, without understanding Paul’s eschatology of resurrection. Because of how often I hear worship songs ”til I see you face to face, your grace amazing takes me home”, misplacing our Christian hope, for heaven is not a home to us but a temporary dwelling in waiting for our resurrection (John 14). Even the focus of heaven in our evangelism shows how widespread this Gnostic world view is in the church.

I wouldn’t object except that the view reduces the important of our actions in this world. If creation is evil, and our goal is to escape into heaven, bringing as many people with us as we can, then it matters not what we leave behind. But if the world is good, and heaven is to come to us in a grand bodily resurrection, then the environment, art, justice and politics is incredibly important for Christians to be involved in, as they all have impact in the good creation that God has invested so much in. It gives us a hope and an investment in our future here on earth.