Do you believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus?
In my first post, I spoke to some of the questions behind the questions to which answers might illumninate how to properly wrestle with our master inquiry. I also spoke to the issue of which scholars I had identified for my own reflection. In this post, I want to simply share the key resources that I will initially use.
At least at the beginning of these reflections I had indicated that I would start with the writings of British Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright. I choose him partly, because during the last Lenten season, as I had begun to reflect on the historicity of the activities surrounding Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem, I used a book recently edited by Troy Evans called Jesus, The Final Days – What Really Happened. Published by Westminister – John Knox Press, Miller gathers together three separate lectures, two by Craig A, Evans and one by Wright delivered as part of the Symposium for Church and Academy lecture series at Crichton College. The three lectures explore in order the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. While I ended up only getting through the first chapter reflecting on the two trials of Jesus and their meaning, I promised myself that in time I would come back to the rest of the book.
Of course, because much of the discussion of this master question seems to revolve around issues of historicity, although whether that is necessary is a quandry that we will look at soon, Wright, who is probably the most widely read scholar who argues for historicity, widely read not without cause, seems to be “the one,” if you will. Wright has two acclaimed books on the subject. I am in the process of reading Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church and I will refer to that discussion somewhat at length. Wright also has an earlier book, The Resurrection of the Son of God.
I am sure that some will suggest that my choice of Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan is a way of tweaking the more conservative voices on this site who continue to use their names as cuss words and when they do, make obvious their lack of understanding of serious biblical historical research. But, my reasoning is more practical than that, for Wright has, with each, written a series of dialogues on this very subject.
Crossan and Wright – The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright in Dialogue
Borg and Wright – The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions
So, if you will – I’m beginning to imagine this thread as a sort of symposium. Wright functions as our main speaker. Borg and Crossan function as responders. And then as we have time, we may take questions from others. In particular, I have suggested that I see Marjorie Suchocki sitting in the lecture hall. John Hick is there as well and just tonight as I was reading the footnotes in Wright’s book, I discovered that my Hebrew Bible teacher at Chicago, Jon Levenson, who now is at Harvard, has written a book from the Jewish perspective on this subject as well. Finally, I will at least reference James Tabor’s paper on What the Bible Says about Death, the Afterlife and the Future – it can function as a hand out that we can study for backup.
I’m sure there are some who say, “Here comes Montgomery with another bibliography.” But I make no apologies for the fact that this is an academic thread. I will let others determine whether it is scholarly. I have been concerned for most of my adult life with bridging the divide that often exists in our churches between congregations (those in the pews) and the Academy. We have had a paradign shift in the disciplines of religious study in the past 30 years or so. In the prior paradigm, theological reflection began as abstract ideas (grounded if you will in reason). The practical application of those ideas would eventually filter through to our congregations. With the emergence of various liberation theologies, this picture has been turned upsidedown. Theology does not start in the abstract, but in praxis (if you will in our Christian experience). The foundations of our faith do not trickle down from ivory towers, but ivory towers are now more and more transformed by that praxis. In this case, for example, the pastoral care emerging in the hospice movement, the design of our funeral rites of passage, the mourning an struggle with grief in the face of absurd human tragedy.
To refuse to take seriously historical research and to do hard theological thinking demeans the importance of our Christian experience. Wesley knew that well.
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Logos 2.0 
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