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Book Report: Unseen Existences: Of Heaven, Earth, and the Divine Mystery in All Things by Brian Zahnd

Brian Zahnd’s Unseen Existences: Of Heaven, Earth, and the Divine Mystery in All Things is a timely and deeply contemplative work that calls Christians to recover a robust, imaginative, and spiritually grounded understanding of heaven. Zahnd argues that modern Christianity—particularly in the West—has lost its ability to speak meaningfully about the unseen world. In its place, we often find either a thin escapism or a flattened secularism, both of which impoverish the Christian imagination. His book is an invitation to rediscover heaven as a living, dynamic reality that shapes how we see God, ourselves, and the world.

At the centre of Zahnd’s argument is a simple but piercing question: Have we forgotten heaven? He suggests that many believers have inherited a vision of heaven that is either sentimental or abstract, disconnected from the lived experience of discipleship. For some, heaven has been reduced to a distant afterlife destination—a kind of spiritual insurance policy that has little bearing on how we live now. For others, the pendulum has swung so far toward social engagement and earthly justice that the spiritual realm is neglected altogether. Zahnd insists that both extremes distort the Christian story. Without a living awareness of heaven, faith becomes either escapist or exhausted.

Zahnd’s alternative is a vision of heaven that is both transcendent and intimately connected to earthly life. Drawing on Scripture, the church fathers, and the contemplative tradition, he describes heaven not as a far‑off place but as the dimension of God’s reality that permeates creation. Heaven is the realm where God’s will is fully done, and it is the destiny toward which all creation is moving. To live with awareness of heaven is to live with a heightened sense of God’s presence, God’s justice, and God’s beauty in the world.

A key metaphor in the book is the pilgrimage of the soul. Zahnd portrays Christian life as a long, steady journey toward union with God—a journey that shapes our desires, our imagination, and our sense of home. This pilgrimage does not detach us from the world; rather, it teaches us to love the world rightly. Heaven becomes the compass that orients our earthly lives, reminding us that we are moving toward a future where we will see Christ face‑to‑face. This eschatological vision gives meaning to our present struggles and anchors our hope in something larger than ourselves.

Zahnd is particularly concerned with the way modern Christians have been formed by cultural narratives that either trivialize heaven or ignore it altogether. He critiques escapist theologies that treat the world as disposable, reminding readers that God calls us to seek justice, mercy, and the flourishing of creation. Yet he also warns against a purely horizontal Christianity that loses its sense of transcendence. Without the unseen world, he argues, the church loses its prophetic imagination and its ability to offer a compelling vision of hope in a disenchanted age.

One of the book’s strengths is Zahnd’s ability to hold together the heavenly and the earthly without collapsing one into the other. He writes with a poetic sensibility, weaving together biblical reflection, historical insight, and contemplative wisdom. His tone is pastoral yet challenging, inviting readers to expand their perspective and re‑embrace the mystery at the heart of Christian faith. He reminds us that the Holy Spirit—the Helper, Advocate, and Comforter—accompanies us on the journey, guiding us toward the fullness of life in God.

Unseen Existences offers several gifts to its readers:

• A renewed vision of heaven that resists simplistic extremes and restores a sense of wonder.
• A theological framework for understanding life as pilgrimage, orienting believers toward their true home in God.
• Encouragement to persevere through injustice, suffering, and uncertainty with a hope rooted in the promise of resurrection and union with Christ.
• A re‑enchanted view of the world, where the divine mystery pulses through creation and invites us into deeper awareness.

Zahnd’s writing reflects his broader ministry as a pastor‑theologian. As the founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, he has long been known for his commitment to the ancient Christian tradition and his ability to communicate deep truths with clarity and beauty. His previous works—Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, A Farewell to Mars, When Everything’s on Fire, and others—share this same blend of prophetic critique and contemplative hope. In Unseen Existences, Zahnd continues this trajectory, offering a vision of Christianity that is both intellectually rich and spiritually nourishing.

Ultimately, Unseen Existences is an invitation to recover a Christianity that is spiritually vibrant, theologically grounded, and deeply engaged with the world. Zahnd calls readers to remember that life is a pilgrimage toward God, that heaven is real and near, and that the divine mystery is woven through all things. In a world marked by uncertainty, injustice, and spiritual fatigue, this vision offers not escapism but courage—a hope that sustains us as we press on toward our true home.