My Review of "The Heaven Promise"

Scot McKnight's The Heaven Promise:  Engaging the Bible's Truth about Life to Come is one of those must-read books of 2015.  This is a marvelous account from one of the most significant voices in New Testament studies about the nature of the Christian hope and the language about "heaven" that is biblically grounded and spiritually formative.

McKnight has so much in The Heaven Promise that is significant to our own culture and for Christians thinking biblically about the message of that hope -- that promise -- in speaking of heaven.  The Heaven Promises brings together some of the most robust biblical scholarship with a pastoral-theological heart.  Which makes this book one that Christians will find not only to be a challenge, but also one that will become a significant resource for the Church in articulating that that promise.

I want to focus, though, on Chapter 16, "What about Near Death Experiences?".  After constructing a vivid and accessible portrait of what the New Testament has to say and what that's essential, McKnight turns his attention to several significant questions asked by the culture.  And with the popularity of books (and movies!) like 90 Minutes in Heaven or Heaven is Real, it's little wonder this question would be the first McKnight addresses.

McKnight rightly begins by pointing out that core issue here is how Christians "know" -- do we base our faith on experience or on Scripture?  There's no doubt these cultural narratives are compelling, but are they true?

And The Heaven Promise concludes that these stories are not only not true (they're self-contrdictory on the surface); they're also spiritually dangerous.  Any Christian talk about these "near death experiences" should begin by looking to Scripture (McKnight points directly to Revelation 20-22), instead of simply to the story told about the experience.

The Heaven Promise really is not a book you should miss this year.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.