The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God: Volume 3

by N. T. Wright

Overview

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 question: 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 worldview and theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800626792
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/17/2003
Series:	Christian Origins and the Question of God
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	817
Sales rank:	208,755
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 3.00(d)

About the Author

N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He has taught New Testament at Oxford, St. Andrews, McGill and Cambridge. His award-winning books include The Case for the Psalms, How God Became King, Simply Jesus, and Jesus and the Victory of God.

Table of Contents

The Target and the Arrows

Life beyond Death in Ancient Paganism

Origin and Shape of Jewish Resurrection Beliefs

Resurrection outside the orinthian Correspondence

Resurrection in Corinth: Introduction

Resurrection in Corinth: The Key Passages

When Paul Saw Jesus

Resurrection in EarlyChristianity Apart from Paul

Hope Refocussed (2): Other New Testament Writings

Hope Refocussed (3): Non-Canoncial Early Christian Texts

Hope in Person

The Story of Easter

Fear and Trembling: Mark