What do you think?
Rate this book
Christianity's Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope
At its beginning Christianity was surprising, powerful, creative, world-shaking.Today in the West it is many times familiar, common, andexpected, losing its power to surprise and transform. We have developedsocietal amnesia and ignorance of what Christianity originally was – andwhat it still can be. We need to recover the surprise of Christianity. Weneed to ask the same fundamental questions as the early Christians, whichwill help us rediscover the surprising power of Christianity in our midst.Focusing on the surprise of the gospel message takes us into the heart ofwhat it is to understand Christianity at all, and thus what it is to rememberand relearn the life-giving power and witness that went with being Christianat the beginning. This remembering and relearning can, in turn, surprise usall over again and chart a course for our witness today.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 8, 2022
What an incredibly helpful little book! Rowe paints a rich picture of Christianity in the ancient world and how their radical vision of the resurrected human helps us make sense of what Christianity can and should be in an increasingly pluralistic and self-interested world. As the Imago Dei, we certainly do have something surprising to offer the world—a picture of the resurrected Jesus! I think I’ll return to this book often.
September 28, 2022
I skimmed this book hard for a class but it had some good moments. I’m realizing classes like this one in seminary are going to skew my book recommendations for a bit
November 5, 2023
Kavin Rowe really packs a punch in 95 pages, convincingly demonstrating how Christianity was a surprise in the first century and continues to surprise the world today—all communicated accessibility yet with a wealth of scholarship obviously lurking behind the pages. There are numerous elements of this book I’ll be returning to with regularity. I think it’s especially an important book for those considering or training for vocational ministry.
Put this little book in the hands of as many people as possible!
(As an aside, someone really ought to produce a little study guide for a church group to work through together. In many ways, this book would pair well with folks who appreciate some of the studies of Tim Keller or Tom Wright)
Put this little book in the hands of as many people as possible!
(As an aside, someone really ought to produce a little study guide for a church group to work through together. In many ways, this book would pair well with folks who appreciate some of the studies of Tim Keller or Tom Wright)
August 14, 2021
Probably the best 95 page book I’ve ever read. Essentially, the book builds from this quote “The earliest Christians knew that to make the truth of Jesus and his image known to the world they had to do more than just announce its arrival. They needed to create ways of seeing and being that had not yet existed.” Rowe talks about the Christian story of everything, what it is to be human, and the institutions required for Christian story to scale and spread to all the world. One story that he thinks the world has to ‘unlearn’ is that of the Autonomous Individual. Pages 84-90 are a succinct and relevant overview of the current dominant story driving western civilization. Great stuff.
December 15, 2020
This book’s main fault is that it’s too short. Rowe sketches evocatively the Christian “story of everything,” which the West has nearly forgotten, where the reality of the resurrection is in the center. The Christian view of the human person as an image of Christ brought loving service to all the outcasts of antiquity and motivated the invention of institutions we take for granted: the hospital, the orphanage, homes for the elderly and poor. Rowe concludes by contrasting the Christian story of reality with the dominant narrative of Western culture about the autonomous individual, and the inability of this narrative to support indefinitely the Christian institutions that we now take for granted.
March 28, 2022
A provocative and accessible little book by a New Testament scholar on how the surprising claim of the early church that Jesus of Nazareth is alive changed the world in tangible ways we now take for granted.
It is also a great primer on how the the Christian story culminating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is better news then the story of the autonomous individual (which ironically assumes some of the Christian story) that we in the the West inhabit.
I may quibble here and there, but I recommend it for Holy Week reading among Christians and nonbelievers alike.
Read it.
It is also a great primer on how the the Christian story culminating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is better news then the story of the autonomous individual (which ironically assumes some of the Christian story) that we in the the West inhabit.
I may quibble here and there, but I recommend it for Holy Week reading among Christians and nonbelievers alike.
Read it.
April 20, 2023
A little book on why and how the resurrection changes everything, through implications for the cosmic narrative, a vision for humanity, and the power of institutions. I didn’t buy some of the presuppositions (particularly related to the politics of Jesus’ death), but I think it’s onto something as far as the inflection points for newness.
May 4, 2024
A good little book that is particularly focused on theological and social vision of the first few centuries of the church with a focus on how this is relevant for the present day. Rowe is particularly good at noting how Christian views of what human beings are in light of Jesus shaped how they lived their life together.
March 23, 2024
Beautifully written, thoughtful, challenging
This book is so needed. It is historical, biblical, deeply theological, and inspiring. It is a book for our times, and vital to the mission of the Church.
This book is so needed. It is historical, biblical, deeply theological, and inspiring. It is a book for our times, and vital to the mission of the Church.
May 11, 2023
Solid look at what made Christianity unique in the first place some 2000 years ago, and a good reminder for why it ought to still be unique today.
May 19, 2022
What made Christianity surprising in the first few centuries surprises still. For those many of us who consider The Faith passe, boring, unhelpful, etc. (and for the rest who don't!), Rowe's 95 page little book is an engaging push to think again. Written as poetically and scholarly as NT Wright (and with an endorsement from him on the back), you'll enjoy C.S. and recommend it soon.
May 22, 2023
Short and readable from a respected New Testament scholar. Asking the question: how did Christianity surprise the world? Really liked this book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews