All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love

Eldredge, president of Ransomed Heart ministries, passionately addresses what he calls the world’s “great crisis of hope.” Citing political and economic instability, rising suicide rates, and increasing use of antidepressants as the crisis, he asks his Christian readership to stop longing for an ideal afterlife and instead find paradise here on Earth by thinking differently about the end goals of Christianity. Turning the book of Revelation on its head, Eldredge believes in a “Great Restoration” on Earth that will represent the second coming of God. “Death is utterly swept away at the Great Restoration.... You will be completely renewed—body, soul, and spirit,” he writes. He opens by recalling one emotionally draining year when his best friend died, one of his daughters-in-law miscarried her first pregnancy, and another daughter-in-law’s brother committed suicide. In an effort to work out his grief, Eldredge headed for the mountains to (literally) shout at God. He came back with the knowledge, he writes, that true transcendence (in the form of the Great Restoration) will happen on Earth. Punctuated with quotes from writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, Eldredge’s homey, imaginative book will inspire readers looking renew their faith. [em](Sept.) [/em]