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Themes in the Synoptic Gospels

Resuscitation or resurrection: contemporary theological critique

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Overview

Two objections to the subjective vision theory and swoon theory and the usual reply.

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Key term

Why does the distinction between resuscitation and resurrection matter for reading the gospel accounts?

Key term

Distinguish resuscitation from resurrection.

Key term

How does Paul describe the risen body?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Distinguish resuscitation from resurrection.

    Model answer

    Resuscitation returns a person to the same mortal life so that they will die again, while resurrection means being raised into a transformed and deathless life of a new order.

  2. 2

    Why does the distinction matter for reading the gospel accounts?

    Model answer

    The raisings performed during the ministry restored people to ordinary life, whereas the Easter accounts describe someone who is recognisably himself yet not bound by the former conditions of life, so the two are presented as different in kind.

  3. 3

    How does Paul describe the risen body?

    Model answer

    Paul writes of a body sown perishable and raised imperishable, calls it a spiritual body, and says that flesh and blood as they now are cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

  4. 4

    What did N.T. Wright argue about the meaning of resurrection?

    Model answer

    N.T. Wright argued that neither Jewish nor pagan usage allowed the word resurrection to mean anything other than bodily life after death, so the earliest Christian claim cannot be reduced to a spiritual experience.

  5. 5

    What did Rudolf Bultmann argue about the resurrection?

    Model answer

    Rudolf Bultmann argued that the resurrection is not an event open to historical enquiry, and that what matters is the rise of Easter faith, so that Jesus is risen into the preaching of the Church.

  6. 6

    What did Willi Marxsen argue?

    Model answer

    Willi Marxsen held that all a historian can establish is that the disciples came to believe Jesus was alive, and that what caused that belief lies beyond historical demonstration.

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