Many Christians believe in a future with eternal life, some say it will be “in heaven”. What kind of existence do they imagine? Do they think that the risen Christian congregation will have physical bodies like we have here in our lives on Earth today? Or will it be a spiritualexistence?

Bible scholar and former Anglican bishop NT Wright asserts that Christianity’s most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection and he also defense a literal resurrection of Jesus.1 He claims that most Christians don’t understand the meaning of the “Christian hope” – that of a bodily resurrection and a new creation.

What is the theological statement on resurrection from bishops in the Swedish Lutheran Church? Which message about the Christian hope do they advise, especially when it comes to funerals? What kind of eschatological tracks are to be found in the main manual Kyrkohandbok för Svenska kyrkan? Is the afterlife to be seen as a spiritual existence or one with physical bodies? And does it really matter?

The main purpose in this essay is to find out what kind of eschatological guidance there is for priests officiating funerals. With starting point in the theology of NT Wright, in comparison with the advice from Swedish bishops, the essay is studying which words and formulation could be used to talk truthfully about the Christian hope.