The Resurrection

• The resurrection

  • Jesus' rebirth and appearance before the disciples
• Basic details

  1. Jesus sentenced to death
  2. Jesus is crucified
  3. After dying on the cross, he is moved to a tomb and then 3 days later his body is discovered missing
  4. Jesus' disciples and followers began seeing Jesus who approached them
  5. Jesus called upon eternal salvation and for the Great Commission: their responsibility to spread his teachings around the world
• How should the resurrection be interpreted

  • Gospel of Mark has a shorter ending - some claim that this could be because it is unfinished
  • Mark's account does not feature the resurrected Jesus talking to the disciples
• Differences in the individuals to have witnessed Jesus after his death

  • Matthew - 2 main appearances - Mary Magdalene + disciples on a mountain in Galilee
  • Luke - 2 main appearances - Jesus appears to 2 followers en route to Emmaus + Jesus appears to Peter
  • John - 3 main appearances - Mary Magdalene at tomb to disciples (not thomas) + peter and six disciples at Galilee
• All gospels cant agree about who Jesus appeared to and where

  • Less historically accurate
• Rudolf Bultmann and Demythologisation

  • very suspicious of liberal theology
  • looked at form criticism - breaking down the Bible into its various original narrative pieces
  • He did ultimately believe in historical analysis of the Bible
• Rudolf Bultmann

  • believed that the Bible could be interpreted essentially
  • looked at the totality of Jesus' life
  • Wanted Christianity to reorient its study of the Bible around questions of human existence
  • understanding the reason why Jesus rose and how this impacted the church
• The breakdown of the Gospels - Demythologisation

  • bases the Bible on a scientific perspective
  • what modern science has told us about the nature of the world
• Jesus demythologised

  • jesus was a historical figure who taught for a few years and then was crucified
  • distinct difference between pre- easter jesus and post - easter jesus
• Bultmanns ideas

  • believes the objective of Christian faith is kerygma (proclamation)
  • many traditional scholars and ordinary christians felt that Bultmanns ideas treated the Gospels unfairly
  • he believes the resurrection may have been a mythological way for the disciples to express their belief in Jesus
• NT Wright and the physical resurrection

  • Biblical scholar and anglican bishop
  • the disciples were able to touch Jesus' body and feel his wounds
  • also parts of the accounts which suggest that Jesus pressed qualities we could not attribute to a human
  • eg ability to disappear
• Resurrection narrative

  • describe how the disciples did not recognise Jesus when he first appeared to them
  • strange considering how well that Jesus knew his ministry
• Wright

  • argues that there is significant historical knowledge that allows us to understand the words and ideas put forward by the Gospel writers
  • claims that although Jesus' physical body was manifestly resurrected, it was also transformed
• 'Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognising him'
• Main belief

  • if one treats the Gospels as historical documents, then they do support the idea that the Gospel authors believed Jesus did undergo a physical resurrection
• The resurrection and the afterlife

  • Jesus' resurrection signifies what every human being will undergo after death
• Concept 1 - the resurrection of the body

  • the physical rebirth of a person in the afterlife
  • general judgement - where all of humanity is raised at the end times for God to judge
• Concept 2 - immortality of the soul

  • the everlasting spiritual aspect of each person
  • particular judgement - each human being is judged by God individually after death
• Catholic Church

  • teaches that souls will exist in heaven, hell or purgatory
  • St Paul - makes a distinction between the physical and spiritual body in resurrection
• The nature of the afterlife - Wright

  • argues that Christians misunderstand it
  • afterlife is not an immediate effect but comes at a future time when the physical body is resurrected to become a spiritual body
• Bultmann summary

  • existentialist
  • committed to a non - mythological world view
  • he rejected many orthodox Christian ideas especially about specific spiritual dimensions