Mark Johansen

I got this book after seeing it advertised in the latest edition of Biblical Archaeology Review. I didn't realize it was only published 5 days before I got it! I was intrigued by the blurb in the advertisement, and the book did not disappoint. From the opening Bible quote on the dedication page - "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:12" to the author's picture on the back cover, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. His style was particularly engaging. My main disappointment - no index of Scripture references.I still think there are points where the author gives in to popular thought - how can we avoid it entirely? My only real objection is in the section regarding how we will look when resurrected. I was hoping he would focus on 1 Corinthians 15:35-37 - " But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain." To even speak of what we will look like Paul says is foolish, as we have no experience of that realm to base our thinking on. As for angels, can a spiritual body be made to look a particular way, or would an angel appear a certain way depending on who the angel was visiting - White to a Caucasian, Jewish to a Jew, black to an African, etc? Otherwise, how could an African entertain an angel unaware, if an angel were to visit him in his native home? Is color and even appearance an attribute of a spiritual body or an incidental? No doubt Paul would say those questions too are foolish, simply because our limited experience limits our logic. The author speaks of Jesus' body in the resurrection appearances, but is this Jesus in his ascended body? His appearances after Pentecost are quite different from his pre-Pentecost, post-resurrection appearances. Also, in discussing "the New Jerusalem", I wonder if Galatians 4:26 adds anything to the discussion - "But the Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother." Again one is plagued with the question - how literal are we to take the Bible? - a question I find the author answers very well in regard to other passages, so I would be curious what he would say about this one. And if, as he says on page 77, he still speaks of "going to heaven" (just as "I still talk about sunrise and sunset"), why bother thinking about it at all? I guess I understand what he's saying, but it still saddens me how easily we give in to convention. There are places where I disagree, or would want to engage him in conversation on this or that point - but those are marks of a good book - and this is a book I found very engaging, thought provoking and entertaining.… (meer)