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Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred Texts

The resurrection: Bultmann, Wright and the afterlife

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Standard criticism of Bultmann's view of the resurrection, central historical argument of N and standard criticism of Wright's historical method.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Why does Wright think first-century Jewish belief makes the Easter claim so striking?

Key term

Give two features of the risen Jesus in John 20–21 that suggest a physical body.

Key term

Give two features of John 20–21 that suggest the risen body is transformed.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did Rudolf Bultmann mean by demythologising the New Testament?

    Model answer

    He meant stripping away the first-century mythological framework of the text in order to recover the existential message it carries for the present.

  2. 2

    On Bultmann's account, what is the relation of the resurrection to history?

    Model answer

    He held that the resurrection is not an event of past history open to the historian, but the rise of Easter faith in the disciples and the meaning of the cross as it is preached.

  3. 3

    How did Bultmann treat the empty tomb narratives?

    Model answer

    He regarded them as later legendary additions that try to turn an object of faith into a demonstrable fact.

  4. 4

    State the standard criticism of Bultmann's view of the resurrection.

    Model answer

    Reducing Easter to the disciples' faith leaves the sudden rise of that faith unexplained, and his assumption that modern people cannot accept miracle is a philosophical prejudice rather than a conclusion.

  5. 5

    What is the central historical argument of N.T. Wright about the resurrection?

    Model answer

    Wright argues that an empty tomb alone and appearances alone are each insufficient, and that bodily resurrection is the only hypothesis that explains both together and the rise of the church.

  6. 6

    Why does Wright think first-century Jewish belief makes the Easter claim so striking?

    Model answer

    Jewish hope was for a general resurrection of the righteous at the end of time, so nobody expected one individual to be raised in the middle of history.

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