The Resurrection of the Messiah
Christopher Bryan
Abstract
This book combines literary, historical, and theological approaches in a study of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The first part of the book provides a careful and sympathetic description of 1st-century Jewish and pagan opinions and beliefs about death and what might follow. It then presents a general account of early Christian claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The second part offers a detailed, full-length commentary on and exegesis of the main New Testament texts that speak of Jesus' death and resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15 and the narratives in the four canonic ... More
This book combines literary, historical, and theological approaches in a study of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The first part of the book provides a careful and sympathetic description of 1st-century Jewish and pagan opinions and beliefs about death and what might follow. It then presents a general account of early Christian claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The second part offers a detailed, full-length commentary on and exegesis of the main New Testament texts that speak of Jesus' death and resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15 and the narratives in the four canonical gospels. The third part discusses and evaluates various proposals that have been made by those attempting to explain the data in ways that differ from the traditional Christian explanation. Finally, the book asks, “So what?” and considers various theological and ethical implications of accepting the claim “Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead.” Throughout, the book exhibits a willingness to face hard questions as well as an appropriate reverence for a faith that for almost two thousand years has enabled millions of people to lead lives of meaning and grace.
Keywords:
resurrection,
pagan,
death,
Jesus,
New Testament,
religion,
Christianity
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199752096 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199752096.001.0001 |
