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On Earth as in Heaven: Daily Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Christians
Today's leading Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and acclaimed author N. T. Wright returns with a collection of pastoral excerpts, carefully curated from his widely celebrated books, that will inspire those wanting to cultivate a life "on earth as it is in heaven."
Modern pastors and their flocks have long considered N. T. Wright a role model for being a thoughtful Christian in today's world. His bestselling books, including Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, Simply Jesus, and After You Believe, have guided Christians in their belief and practice of the faith. Now, Christians can rely on his wisdom to guide them through each day of their lives with this thoughtful book of daily meditations, featuring short selections from his classic works.
With reflections on themes such as faith, mission, character, and God's work in the world, these daily meditations will invigorate and uplift Christians in their search to live their faith authentically and biblically in today's world.
Modern pastors and their flocks have long considered N. T. Wright a role model for being a thoughtful Christian in today's world. His bestselling books, including Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, Simply Jesus, and After You Believe, have guided Christians in their belief and practice of the faith. Now, Christians can rely on his wisdom to guide them through each day of their lives with this thoughtful book of daily meditations, featuring short selections from his classic works.
With reflections on themes such as faith, mission, character, and God's work in the world, these daily meditations will invigorate and uplift Christians in their search to live their faith authentically and biblically in today's world.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2022
429 people are currently reading
389 people want to read
About the author
N.T. Wright
460 books2,863 followersN. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England (2003-2010) and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline NBC, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air, and he has taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford universities. Wright is the award-winning author of Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Last Word, The Challenge of Jesus, The Meaning of Jesus (coauthored with Marcus Borg), as well as the much heralded series Christian Origins and the Question of God.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 8, 2024
If I put it simply On Earth as in Heaven is like a granola bar of N.T. Wright writings. It is a healthy choice for 21st century christians poking at all we do and reminding us gently of what we should do. It was good read to reflect on.
May 8, 2022
"On Earth as in Heaven" is a compilation of Tom Wright's best quotes categorized loosely by subject. It's fine for what it is, but I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't just pick up the books. I much prefer to read them in the context of their original argument.
September 12, 2024
I will read just about anything by N. T. Wright. (I promise it has nothing to do with the accent ... truly ... ) :D
This is a great starting point/introduction to Wright's writings, presented topically. It's a bit clunky to read via Kindle, unless you don't mind reading straight through; I like to jump around from topic to topic in books like this, and usually would go for a physical copy for ease of doing just that. It's like travel guidebooks--I'm often poking around from city to city, right, and that doesn't typically occur in a logical order--for me, anyway! :)
But, this is neat to have as a reference at hand. I haven't read all; of Wright's books, and even if I had, this is a helpful resource to be able to review what he's written on given topics. It'll certainly prompt me to visit those books I've not read, and often feels (in a good way) like an appetizer or sampler platter--whetting the appetite and providing direction on where to go next. Could also be helpful to use as a starting point for devotional or quiet-time use.
4/5 stars.
I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This is a great starting point/introduction to Wright's writings, presented topically. It's a bit clunky to read via Kindle, unless you don't mind reading straight through; I like to jump around from topic to topic in books like this, and usually would go for a physical copy for ease of doing just that. It's like travel guidebooks--I'm often poking around from city to city, right, and that doesn't typically occur in a logical order--for me, anyway! :)
But, this is neat to have as a reference at hand. I haven't read all; of Wright's books, and even if I had, this is a helpful resource to be able to review what he's written on given topics. It'll certainly prompt me to visit those books I've not read, and often feels (in a good way) like an appetizer or sampler platter--whetting the appetite and providing direction on where to go next. Could also be helpful to use as a starting point for devotional or quiet-time use.
4/5 stars.
I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
January 11, 2022
A compilation of N. T. Wright's theological writings, arranged by topic. Most of the excerpts are 1-2 pages long organized by his son into topics such as Easter, Beauty, Ascension, Pentecost, Advent and Justice. For those new to Wright's works, this is an excellent introduction. For fans like me, it is an opportunity to see his writings over the years put together by topic. It is interesting to notice the changes in style and emphasis in his various works.
The only criticism I have of the book is that I often finished an excerpt and wanted more. The passages are lacking the context in which they were first written. In that respect, this book is not a substitute for Wright's longer works, but should whet the appetite for more.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The only criticism I have of the book is that I often finished an excerpt and wanted more. The passages are lacking the context in which they were first written. In that respect, this book is not a substitute for Wright's longer works, but should whet the appetite for more.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 14, 2022
A decent collection of excerpts from Wright's corpus. The subtitle seems to infer that there are daily instalments of these excepts, similar to a 365 day reading plan, but this is not the case. The excerpts are separated by a major topic per chapter and then scattered throughout the book with Wright's thoughts. Some were good and helpful, others not as much. I would rather have just read an entire book by Wright.
August 11, 2024
I'm almost finished with this book, but it's creating such a strong reaction that I have to review it now (lest I forget by the end of the book...I'm old).
This will be a long review because whenever I have strong reactions, I end up writing long reviews, so if you want the tl;dr version it is this: "Some really good stuff in this book which is kind of meant to be a devotional or "daily wisdom," but also Mr. Wright makes the same mistake he has made in other books which really annoys me.
Onward....
So first of all, the strengths of this book:
1. N T Wright is probably the best, clearest (and blessedly easiest to understand) of any theological author I've ever read, and he is no dummy. He can go deep, or he can speak to the unwashed masses (like me). That is no mean feat. Kudos to you, Mr. Wright. Here is one example:
“When God wants to change the world, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on.”
2. Mr. Wright does an excellent job in his writing (not really this book since it is only a collection of his writings (which I'll get to in the negatives), of dragging us again and again back to the fact that God is not working in the world to bring individual salvation to individual people (though He IS doing that), but his broader plan is to renew the entire cosmos and this is the end to which he is and has always been working. He writes:
“God made heaven and earth; at the last he will remake both and join them together forever.”
There are more strengths, but those are the two main ones.
On the negatives:
1. This book is just a collection of his writings gathered together in one place and patched together thematically so that one can read it in a year. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for a good book. Some of the writing may or may not make particular sense in light of the particular theme and since Mr. Wright wrote these as books, there are many places where the reader just gets interested in a subject and its dropped and on to the next passage from a different book. This doesn’t make good devotional reading, and really doesn’t make good reading at all.
2. This second negative is a pet peeve of mine with Mr. Wright (who I assume is a great guy in person and it would be very cool to have a beer with him and pick his considerable brain). As an example, Mr. Wright is talking about a view of the atonement that understands that one purpose of the atonement is to satisfy God’s wrath against sin. He quotes the well known (at least among English-speaking Christians) words from a hymn: “And on the cross, when Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied”
Now, whether or not you agree that this was a purpose of the atonement is not the issue here, Christians can, and do, argue about this. What really annoys me is the way Mr. Wright presents the side he is arguing against. He writes:
“(This makes it sound like hunger that is satisfied by a good meal.) The line of thought goes like this, usually based on a particular arrangement of biblical texts: All humans sinned, causing God to be angry and to want to kill them, to burn them forever in “hell.” Jesus somehow got in the way and took the punishment instead (it helped, it seems, that he was innocent—oh, and that he was God’s own son, too). We are in the clear after all, heading for “heaven” instead (provided, of course, we believe it).”
Wright, N. T.. On Earth as in Heaven (p. 338). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
I do not know one single solitary Christian against whom he is arguing who would agree that this is the view of those who hold this particular view of the atonement. Not one. Without doubt if you plopped this in front of them and said, “Is this how you view the atonement?” Their answer would be, “of course not. That is a brutal caricature of the issue. “
If you are going to argue against a position, at least be kind and lay out the position in such a way that those who hold it would say, “Yes, that is what I believe.”
This is a bad habit of Mr. Wright’s and I criticized him for doing the same thing in his otherwise excellent book “The New Testament and the People of God.” I REALLY wish he would quit doing this. I suspect that, if someone else wrote against his position in this way, he would be quite offended that they abused his position so badly.
Mr. Wright is a great author and well worth reading whether one agrees with him or not, I do not, for the life of me, understand why he has to get these unkindly jabs in. He is better than this, I know he is.
This will be a long review because whenever I have strong reactions, I end up writing long reviews, so if you want the tl;dr version it is this: "Some really good stuff in this book which is kind of meant to be a devotional or "daily wisdom," but also Mr. Wright makes the same mistake he has made in other books which really annoys me.
Onward....
So first of all, the strengths of this book:
1. N T Wright is probably the best, clearest (and blessedly easiest to understand) of any theological author I've ever read, and he is no dummy. He can go deep, or he can speak to the unwashed masses (like me). That is no mean feat. Kudos to you, Mr. Wright. Here is one example:
“When God wants to change the world, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on.”
2. Mr. Wright does an excellent job in his writing (not really this book since it is only a collection of his writings (which I'll get to in the negatives), of dragging us again and again back to the fact that God is not working in the world to bring individual salvation to individual people (though He IS doing that), but his broader plan is to renew the entire cosmos and this is the end to which he is and has always been working. He writes:
“God made heaven and earth; at the last he will remake both and join them together forever.”
There are more strengths, but those are the two main ones.
On the negatives:
1. This book is just a collection of his writings gathered together in one place and patched together thematically so that one can read it in a year. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for a good book. Some of the writing may or may not make particular sense in light of the particular theme and since Mr. Wright wrote these as books, there are many places where the reader just gets interested in a subject and its dropped and on to the next passage from a different book. This doesn’t make good devotional reading, and really doesn’t make good reading at all.
2. This second negative is a pet peeve of mine with Mr. Wright (who I assume is a great guy in person and it would be very cool to have a beer with him and pick his considerable brain). As an example, Mr. Wright is talking about a view of the atonement that understands that one purpose of the atonement is to satisfy God’s wrath against sin. He quotes the well known (at least among English-speaking Christians) words from a hymn: “And on the cross, when Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied”
Now, whether or not you agree that this was a purpose of the atonement is not the issue here, Christians can, and do, argue about this. What really annoys me is the way Mr. Wright presents the side he is arguing against. He writes:
“(This makes it sound like hunger that is satisfied by a good meal.) The line of thought goes like this, usually based on a particular arrangement of biblical texts: All humans sinned, causing God to be angry and to want to kill them, to burn them forever in “hell.” Jesus somehow got in the way and took the punishment instead (it helped, it seems, that he was innocent—oh, and that he was God’s own son, too). We are in the clear after all, heading for “heaven” instead (provided, of course, we believe it).”
Wright, N. T.. On Earth as in Heaven (p. 338). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
I do not know one single solitary Christian against whom he is arguing who would agree that this is the view of those who hold this particular view of the atonement. Not one. Without doubt if you plopped this in front of them and said, “Is this how you view the atonement?” Their answer would be, “of course not. That is a brutal caricature of the issue. “
If you are going to argue against a position, at least be kind and lay out the position in such a way that those who hold it would say, “Yes, that is what I believe.”
This is a bad habit of Mr. Wright’s and I criticized him for doing the same thing in his otherwise excellent book “The New Testament and the People of God.” I REALLY wish he would quit doing this. I suspect that, if someone else wrote against his position in this way, he would be quite offended that they abused his position so badly.
Mr. Wright is a great author and well worth reading whether one agrees with him or not, I do not, for the life of me, understand why he has to get these unkindly jabs in. He is better than this, I know he is.
January 6, 2023
Nicholas Thomas Wright served as the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England for several years. After that, he served as a research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Wright is a scholar on the relationship between Christian life and theology and is also an advocate for biblical re-evaluation on topics like justification, women's ordination, and the Christian views about life after death. He has written and edited many books, including Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God. This work is aimed at moving people away from misconceptions about Christian theology, biblical faith, and Jesus’s kingdom. Edited and arranged by his son, Oliver, the book is a series of excerpts from previous works (especially ones showcasing Wright’s development of “signposts”) that show how God is and will bring in his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The chapters are listed as follows: Easter, Beauty, Ascension, Power, Pentecost, Spirituality, Advent, Justice, Christmas, Truth, Lent, Freedom, Passiontide, Love, and Easter: The New Year. The book is aimed at church laity and college students alike.
Book reviewed for Eleutheria, Liberty Divinity Journal (Volume 6, Issue 1).
Book reviewed for Eleutheria, Liberty Divinity Journal (Volume 6, Issue 1).
January 5, 2023
N. T. Wright is, without doubt, the greatest theological mind of our time. His readings help us to focus on the true meaning of the Kingdom of God, the power of Easter, and the call to hope-filled faithfulness in this life rather than merely focusing on 'getting to heaven.' This newer volume, which is a compilation of excerpts from 13 of his most popular books, was for me a wonderful daily devotional resource. Arranged by subject - such a liturgical seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost - and also sections of spiritual themes like beauty, power, justice, truth and love. Each insight on each subject helped me to keep focused on the fulfilled promises of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you have not read other N. T. Wright books, this compilation may not be helpful; but if you are familiar with at least some of his works, then this collection will draw your heart and mind together in knowledge and joy.
If you have not read other N. T. Wright books, this compilation may not be helpful; but if you are familiar with at least some of his works, then this collection will draw your heart and mind together in knowledge and joy.
December 19, 2021
N. T. Wright is an acclaimed author, pastor, and theologian. In "On Earth as in Heaven", he includes sermon excerpts about several theological topics such as: Pentecost, Easter, Advent, Christmas, and Love. I had hoped this would be a devotional book, but it was much too deep for me. I feel that this book would best serve a pastor or seminary student.
Overall, this book has a lot of deep, theological subject matter and would be very enjoyable for a reader who enjoys such things. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Overall, this book has a lot of deep, theological subject matter and would be very enjoyable for a reader who enjoys such things. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
October 3, 2022
On Earth As In Heaven is a book of wisdom for Christian’s living in the 21st century. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting to see how western ideologies have impacted how we interpret scripture, to the point of misinterpreting key verses. The author does an excellent job of unpacking these things in easily understood segments. Overall this is a great book for anyone interested in theology and wanting to grow in their faith. I will definitely be recommending it to anyone I know.
November 15, 2023
I am not Anglican (I am Pentecostal) but I have always enjoyed Wright's insight. He is one of the top New Testament scholars of our day. I read the book straight through but it is designed to be a devotional read from Easter to Easter. It is excerpts from several of his books. Most focusing on God's kingdom / new creation that began when Jesus rose from the dead. A very good read. Some parts were a bit repetitive and on occasion more context would have helped. I guess I need to get some of his books to get his full insight. Overall, I highly recommend this one.
December 27, 2023
Readers of Wright will enjoy this devotional book that provides a year of readings from his books written for lay people, not his scholarly ones. It's a daily reminder of God's plan to bring His Kingdom to earth through His Kingdom people.
The only quibble I have is with the format. It loosely follows the Christian year but a little too loosely. It would have been nice to have sections for each season laid out chronologically with length adjusted to season, i.e. Advent being about 28 days, Christmas 12 days, etc. But it's only a minor quibble. Overall a great devotional.
The only quibble I have is with the format. It loosely follows the Christian year but a little too loosely. It would have been nice to have sections for each season laid out chronologically with length adjusted to season, i.e. Advent being about 28 days, Christmas 12 days, etc. But it's only a minor quibble. Overall a great devotional.
February 22, 2025
N. T. Wright shows how Jesus' death and resurrection is about a lot more than just that "he died so I can be saved and go to heaven". That is true, but it's incomplete. Jesus' advent, death, and resurrection conquered the enemy and set up his kingdom with him as King of kings. As such, when we believe, our motivation in life should be to show what God's kingdom is like.
The book was compiled from other N. T. Wright writings and sometimes felt disjointed. Then I didn't always follow the train of thought (which is more about me than about Wright!
The book was compiled from other N. T. Wright writings and sometimes felt disjointed. Then I didn't always follow the train of thought (which is more about me than about Wright!
November 18, 2025
**Preface: I'm not a huge fan of devotionals and did not read the entirety of this book**
This book is a composite of bite-sized excepts from N.T. Wright's various, wonderful works. Unfortuntely, this book simply leaves the reader wanting to follow Wright's thoughts where they are -- in his complete books.
This would've been better if Wright had written each specific devotion rather than having each reading taken from a different book. (See "Every Day for Every One" for this done well).
This book is a composite of bite-sized excepts from N.T. Wright's various, wonderful works. Unfortuntely, this book simply leaves the reader wanting to follow Wright's thoughts where they are -- in his complete books.
This would've been better if Wright had written each specific devotion rather than having each reading taken from a different book. (See "Every Day for Every One" for this done well).
May 16, 2022
Excellent collection of quotes from N.T. Wright, for seasonal reflection. The content is amazing and expertly collated. I am thankful to have this on my shelves. I originally wanted to use this for daily devotions, but the design did not work well for my style. I am sure that is just an issue of preference. In every other way, I deeply appreciated this book.
February 22, 2025
A great devotional centered around Easter
A great devotional centered around Easter. This is a rich collection of the writings and thoughts of N.T. Wright that will likely help you to see the significance of Easter in a new light. I really enjoyed this book, and I am so glad that I read it. I find a lot of value in N.T. Wright’s writing and I definitely recommend it.
A great devotional centered around Easter. This is a rich collection of the writings and thoughts of N.T. Wright that will likely help you to see the significance of Easter in a new light. I really enjoyed this book, and I am so glad that I read it. I find a lot of value in N.T. Wright’s writing and I definitely recommend it.
June 9, 2025
The essential devotional
If you like to have a devotional companion to your scripture reading, then this one will serve you a long time. If you like to ,is it up, then “My utmost for His highest” by Oswald chambers is also fantastic.
If you like to have a devotional companion to your scripture reading, then this one will serve you a long time. If you like to ,is it up, then “My utmost for His highest” by Oswald chambers is also fantastic.
November 17, 2022
A good collection of N.T. Wright’s theological writings from his various books.
Read
August 4, 2023Short selections from throughout Wright's corpus arranged by topic. Good nuggets but disjointed.
January 10, 2024
Absolutely amazing! I listened to the audiobook, but I will definitely go back and re-read the written book!
March 22, 2024
Absolutely love it!
A sort of curated anthology of some of Dr. Wright's best work. Definitely recommended as a sort of introduction to his opinions and work.
A sort of curated anthology of some of Dr. Wright's best work. Definitely recommended as a sort of introduction to his opinions and work.
October 10, 2025
This is a great devotional. I read it in chunks and loved it. What an incredible intellect with a huge heart for God.
Read
November 30, 2022I don't know how to give this a starred review overall. The book is physically beautiful and I liked the writing overall, but the organization was terrible. The title suggests that it's daily reading, but it's split into topical sections that do not follow the course of a year. That's fine, I suppose, but the readings within the sections do not seem to have any internal organization either. For example, a passage from one of N.T. Wright's books will be quoted and then another from the same book shortly thereafter but not in the order that they appeared in the book. So, page 121 might be selected and then a few passages later there will be a selection from page 119. It's distractingly poor organization. I had never read N.T. Wright before, but heard such good things, and this was not a good introduction to his writing. I hope that other people got more out of it.
September 14, 2024
I've become a huge N. T. Wright fan in recent years. This book of readings drawn from his numerous works serves as an introduction to his writing and an overview of key themes, especially the Kingdom of God, to which he often returns.
Initially I tried to read through the book quickly in order to write a review, and when read in that way, it felt a bit repetitive. This is meant to be read as a devotional, and having sever excepts on a subject works well for this, letting the reader ponder these themes over a number of days. Uniquely, the book starts and ends with Easter rather than the beginning of the calendar year. A book to treasure and dip into again and again.
Initially I tried to read through the book quickly in order to write a review, and when read in that way, it felt a bit repetitive. This is meant to be read as a devotional, and having sever excepts on a subject works well for this, letting the reader ponder these themes over a number of days. Uniquely, the book starts and ends with Easter rather than the beginning of the calendar year. A book to treasure and dip into again and again.
February 19, 2022
In this book, N.T. Wright compiles many passages from his previous writings to meditate on the phrase “on earth as in heaven” from Easter to Easter. As I have very little experience with Wright, this was a good primer for me, but I did find that I wanted more from some sections. I suppose the answer to this is to read the cited work, but I felt somewhat wanting at times.
Honestly, it’s been several years since I took a theology course, so this felt a bit over my head, but there were moments of clarity (on my part, not Wright’s) where I saw brilliance.
Honestly, it’s been several years since I took a theology course, so this felt a bit over my head, but there were moments of clarity (on my part, not Wright’s) where I saw brilliance.
October 4, 2024
I wanted an overview of Wright's work before reading further - he is a very prolific writer . This was a perfect introduction and I will read further in many of his other books.. I already have a better clarity about Christ and several nagging issues that have bothered me for years... This is not a light read - and I will now turn to it as a daily read because I truly want a working knowledge of many of his concepts
July 10, 2023
An NT Wright devotional/anthology/reader. This really doesn't feel like the best way to consume his work, especially his popular-level stuff--his line of argumentation gets a bit lost from time to time. But it is nice to have a topical arrangement of stuff he has written. As always, Wright amuses, annoys, and astounds, making this a fun and fruitful resource even if it can be at times frustrating.
May 13, 2022
3.5 stars. It wasn’t my favorites of NT’s mostly bc it’s a lot of his work chopped up. Because of this everything feels a bit… underdeveloped.
May 5, 2023
Intended as something like a daily devotional, I listened to this by audiobook. It’s some thing of NT Wright’s “greatest hits.“ Now I need to buy the hardcopy to have at hand.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews