The Resurrection of the Son of God

Front Cover
Fortress Press, 2003 - Religion - 817 pages
Why did Christianity begin, and why did it take the shape it did? To answer this question -- which any historian must face -- renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright focuses on the key points: what precisely happened at Easter? What did the early Christians mean when they said that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead? What can be said today about this belief?

This book, third in Wright's series Christian Origins and the Question of God, sketches a map of ancient beliefs about life after death, in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. It then highlights the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions. This, together with other features of early Christianity, forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his "appearances."

How do we explain these phenomena? The early Christians' answer was that Jesus had indeed been bodily raised from the dead; that was why they hailed him as the messianic "son of God." No modern historian has come up with a more convincing explanation. Facing this question, we are confronted to this day with the most central issues of the Christian worldview and theology.

 

Contents

Setting the Scene
1
The Target and the Arrows
3
2 The Arrows
11
ii Resurrection and History
12
b No Access?
15
c No Analogy?
16
d No Real Evidence?
18
iii Resurrection in History and Theology
20
d Patriarchs Exodus and Kingdom
426
3 Resurrection in the MatthewLuke Material Sometimes Known as Q
429
4 Resurrection in Matthew
434
5 Resurrection in Luke
435
6 Resurrection in John
440
Conclusion
448
Hope Refocused 2 Other New Testament Writings
450
2 Acts
451

b Resurrection and Christology
23
c Resurrection and Eschatology
26
3 The Historical StartingPoint
28
Shadows Souls and Where They Go Life Beyond Death in Ancient Paganism 1 Introduction
32
2 Shadows Souls or Potential Gods?
38
ii Witless Shadows in a Murky World?
39
iii Disembodied but Otherwise Fairly Normal?
45
iv Souls Released from Prison?
47
v Becoming a God or at least a Star?
55
3 Further Life from within the World of the Dead?
60
ii Eating with the Dead
61
iii Spirits Souls and Ghosts
62
iv Returning from the Underworld
64
The Scheintod Motif in Novels
68
vi Translated to Be With the Gods
76
vii Transmigration of Souls
77
viii Dying and Rising Gods
80
The OneWay Street
81
Time to Wake Up 1 Death and Beyond in the Old Testament
85
2 Asleep with the Ancestors
87
ii Disturbing the Dead
93
iii The Unexplained Exceptions
94
iv The Land of No Return
96
v The Nature and Ground of Hope
99
3 And Afterwards?
103
iii Glory after Suffering?
105
iv The Basis of Future Hope
107
4 Awakening the Sleepers
108
The Sleepers Wake the Wise Shine
109
Isaiah
115
Hosea
118
Ezekiel
119
vi Resurrection and the Hope of Israel
121
5 Conclusion
127
Time to Wake Up 2 Hope Beyond Death in PostBiblical Judaism
129
The Sadducees
131
3 Blessed and Disembodied Immortality
140
4 Resurrection in SecondTemple Judaism
146
The More Greek the Better
147
2 Maccabees
150
Resurrection and Apocalyptic
153
The Wisdom of Solomon
162
Josephus
175
vii Resurrection at Qumran?
181
viii PseudoPhilo Biblical Antiquities
189
ix Pharisees Rabbis and Targumim
190
Conclusion
200
Resurrection in Paul
207
Resurrection in Paul Outside the Corinthian Correspondence
209
2 1 and 2 Thessalonians
213
3 Galatians
219
4 Philippians
225
5 Ephesians and Colossians
236
6 Philemon
240
7 Romans
241
ii Romans 14
242
iii Romans 58
248
iv Romans 911
260
v Romans 1216
263
The Pastoral Epistles
267
Conclusion
271
Resurrection in Corinth 1 Introduction
277
2 Resurrection in 1 Corinthians apart from Chapter 15
278
Gods Wisdom Gods Power Gods Future
280
Sex Lawyers and Judgment
286
Marriage
291
Idols Food Monotheism and Apostolic Freedom
292
Worship and Love
294
3 Resurrection in 2 Corinthians apart from 47511
297
Suffering and Comfort
300
the Apostolic Apologia
302
Fragments?
307
Resurrection at Corinth
309
Resurrection in Corinth 2 The Key Passages
312
ii 1 Corinthians 15111
317
iii 1 Corinthians 151228
329
b 1 Corinthians 151219
331
c 1 Corinthians 152028
333
iv 1 Corinthians 152934
338
v 1 Corinthians 153549
340
b 1 Corinthians 153541
342
c 1 Corinthians 15429
347
vi 1 Corinthians 155058
356
Conclusion
360
2 2 Corinthians 47510
361
ii 2 Corinthians 4715
362
iii 2 Corinthians 41655
364
iv 2 Corinthians 5610
369
v Conclusion
370
Resurrection in Paul
372
When Paul Saw Jesus
375
2 Pauls Own Accounts
378
ii 1 Corinthians 91
381
iii 1 Corinthians 15811
382
iv 2 Corinthians 46
384
v 2 Corinthians 1214
386
3 Pauls ConversionCall in Acts
388
4 Conversion and Christology
393
5 Conclusion
398
Resurrection in Early Christianity Apart from Paul
399
Hope Refocused 1 Gospel Traditions Outside the Easter Narratives
401
2 Resurrection in Mark and its Parallels
404
ii Challenge
405
iii The Future Vindication of Jesus
408
iv Puzzles
411
b The Disciples Perplexity
414
v The Sadducees Question
415
b No Marriage in the Resurrection
420
c God of the Living
423
3 Hebrews
457
4 The General Letters
461
5 Revelation
470
Resurrection in the New Testament
476
Hope Refocused 3 NonCanonical Early Christian Texts
480
2 Apostolic Fathers
481
ii 2 Clement
483
iii Ignatius of Antioch
484
Letter and Martyrdom
486
v The Didache
488
vi Barnabas
489
vii The Shepherd of Hermas
491
viii Papias
492
ix The Epistle to Diognetus
493
3 Early Christian Apocrypha
494
ii The Ascension of Isaiah
495
iii The Apocalypse of Peter
496
iv 5 Ezra
498
v The Epistula Apostolorum
499
4 The Apologists
500
ii Athenagoras
503
iii Theophilus
506
iv Minucius Felix
508
5 The Great Early Theologians
510
ii Irenaeus
513
iii Hippolytus
517
iv Origen
518
6 Early Syriac Christianity
527
ii The Odes of Solomon
528
iii Tatian
531
iv The Acts of Thomas
532
7 Resurrection as Spirituality? Texts from Nag Hammadi and Elsewhere
534
iii Other Thomas Literature
537
iv The Epistle to Rheginos
538
v The Gospel of Philip
541
vi Other Nag Hammadi Treatises
544
vii The Gospel of the Saviour
546
Conclusion
547
Conclusion
551
Hope in Person Jesus as Messiah and Lord
553
2 Jesus as Messiah
554
ii Messiahship in Judaism
557
iii Why Then Call Jesus Messiah?
559
3 Jesus the Messiah is Lord
563
ii Jesus and the Kingdom
566
iii Jesus and Caesar
568
iv Jesus and YHWh
571
Resurrection within the Early Christian Worldview
578
The Story of Easter
585
General Issues in the Easter Stories
587
2 The Origin of the Resurrection Narratives
589
ii The Gospel of Peter
592
iii The Form of the Story
596
iv Redaction and Composition?
597
3 The Surprise of the Resurrection Narratives
599
ii The Strange Absence of Personal Hope in the Stories
602
iii The Strange Portrait of Jesus in the Stories
604
iv The Strange Presence of the Women in the Stories
607
4 The Historical Options
608
Fear and Trembling Mark
616
2 The Ending
617
3 From Story to History
625
4 Easter Day from Marks Point of View
627
Earthquakes and Angels Matthew
632
3 The Priests the Guards and the Bribe
636
4 Tomb Angels First Appearance 28110
640
5 On the Mountain in Galilee 281620
642
Conclusion
645
Burning Hearts and Broken Bread Luke
647
2 Luke 24 and Acts 1 within Lukes Work as a Whole
649
3 The Unique Event
656
4 Easter and the Life of the Church
659
Conclusion
660
New Day New Tasks John
662
2 John 20 within the Gospel as a Whole
667
3 The Contribution of John 21
675
Conclusion
679
Belief Event and Meaning
683
Easter and History
685
2 The Tomb and the Meetings
686
3 Two Rival Theories
697
ii A New Experience of Grace
701
4 The Necessary Condition
706
5 The Historical Challenge of Jesus Resurrection
710
The Risen Jesus as the Son of God 1 Worldview Meaning and Theology
719
2 The Meanings of Son of God
723
ii Resurrection and Messiahship
726
iii Resurrection and World Lordship
728
iv Resurrection and the Question of God
731
3 Shooting at the Sun?
736
Bibliography
739
3 Secondary Sources etc
741
Primary Sources
745
3 Other Early Christian and Related Texts
746
4 Pagan Texts
747
Secondary Literature
751
Index of Ancient Sources
780
2 Apocrypha
784
3 Pseudepigrapha
785
4 Qumran
786
5 Josephus
787
8 New Testament
788
9 Christian andor Gnostic Works
799
10 GrecoRoman Texts
802
11 Persian Texts
806
Index of Modern Authors
807
Index of Selected Topics
812
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