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Transcript of 167. N. T. Wright, Res. of Son of God- Review
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7/30/2019 167. N. T. Wright, Res. of Son of God- Review
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76 Interpretation JANUARY 2004
The Resurrection of the Son of God
byN. T.Wright
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2003. 817 pp. $39.00. ISBN 0-8006-2681-8.
. T. WRIGHT HAS WRITTEN WHAT WILLprobably be viewed for many
yearsas
the definitive work on resurrection (and particularly the resur
rection ofChrist). The main intent ofthis mammoth undertaking may
be to establish the historical plausability ofJesus' resurrection, but even
readers who cannot accept Wright's conclusions in this regard will find much to inform
theirscholarship and, indeed, their preaching and teaching concerning what may be the
central doctrine ofthe Christian faith. The volumethe third in a series byWrightis
dedicated to "Christian Origins and the Question ofGod," the first two being The New
Testament and the People ofGod(on the Jewish roots ofChristianity) and Jesus and the
Victory ofGod(on the historical Jesus). The present volume began as a final chapter to thelatterwork. Awork on Paul is slated to follow.
The basic thesis ofthe bookis as follows: the early Christians embraced an understand
ing ofresurrection that was compatible with a particular Jewish view yet also modified that
view. This specific "modified Jewish view" seems to have been embraced byChristians in a
manner that was early and virtually unanimous. Such a development requires historical
explanation, and the most likelyproposal to account forthe development is that these
Christians had been surprised bysomething that they all believed had happened to Jesus,something that caused them to re-think their inherited understanding ofresurrection.
Early portions ofthe book are devoted to distinguishing Jewish views on resurrection
and the afterlife from pagan ones. Though manyofthe ancients believed in some form of
disembodied life after death, the Gentile world did not believe in any sort ofresurrection
that would involve a return to bodily existence. Such a hope did develop within the Jewish
world, however, where some believed that God would someday raise the bodies ofthe dead
to new life. There was diversity ofopinion regarding such a phenomenon (the Sadduceesfamously denying it altogether), but everyone agreed that such a resurrection would consti
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REVIEWS Interpretation 77
S S n
JAMES O. G. D U N N
C H R I S T I A N I T Y
IN THE M A K I N G
VOLUME
"Jesus Rememberedis highly readable and reliably informative on the history
and tendencies ofcritical research on Jesus. .. . Dunn's imposing work
deserves attention beyond an academic readership/'
- PETER STUHLMACHER
"Modern portraits ofthe historical Jesus abound. But here James Dunn
provides a tour ofancient sketches ~~ a gallery of impressions that this
provocative figure left upon his earliest followers,... An indispensable
contribution to an ongoing quest to comprehend the significance ofJesus for the history ofChristianityand for modern civilization."
- MARKALLANPOWELL
"A magnificent achievement.Jesus Rememberedis massivelythorough and
wide-ranging, innovative in its stress on orality, at times provocative, yet also
immensely readable and clear. James Dunn's bookwill undoubtedly shape
Jesus study for the next generation and more. This is a 'must* for all those
engaged in study of Jesus at whateverlevel."
~~ CHRISTOPHER TUCKETT
ISBN 0 8028 3931 2 1038 pages hardcover $55 00
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78 Interpretation JANUARY 2004
resurrection becomes more important and central; (2) the resurrection is understood as a
two-stage event: the messiah is to be raised bodily from the dead (indeed, this has already
happened) as a proleptic guarantee ofa general resurrection that will occur later; (3) resur
rection is no longer understood simply as a resuscitationof
dead bodies but as a dramatictransformation of those bodies into something "transphysicaT; and (4) resurrection lan
guage comes to be appropriated metaphorically for such matters as baptism and holiness
rather than for the national restoration of Israel.
Why would Christians come to believe that God's eschatological timetable involved a
proleptic resurrection of the messiah when such a view was unprecedented in Judaism and
was certainly not required by any usual understanding ofscripture? Wright suggests that
Christians developed this view in response to what they were certain had happened toJesus-they had been taken by surprise by his resurrection but were forced to re-examine
scripture and re-think their (Jewish) understanding ofGod's timetable accordingly. And
where did Paul get his peculiar (and, again, unprecedented) notion that the dead would be
raised with "spiritual bodies," as opposed to "soulish bodies" (1 Cor 15:44)? Wright suggests
that Christians came to such an understanding because of the unanticipated transphysicali-
ty they were certain had characterized the risen body ofJesus.
As a historian, Wright reaches conclusions both modest and daring. The modest con
clusion is that the early Christians believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead in a literal and corporeal (though transphysical) sense. Thus Wright wants to dispense with popular proposals of liberal theology that claim the New Testament authors themselves (espe
cially Paul) merely believed that Jesus had gone to heaven to live with God or continued to
be present in the kerygma of the church. He accomplishes this task admirably, indeed with
what many readers might regard as a bit of overkill.
The more daring conclusion comes with Wright's suggestion that a historian might
conclude on the basis of historical evidence that the early Christians were correct in theirbelief that Jesus had been literally raised from the dead: "The proposal that Jesus was bodily
raised from the dead possesses unrivaled power to explain the historical data at the heart of
early Christianity" (p. 718). Wright allows that there could be numerous other explanations
for Christians believing Jesus had been raised from the dead, but he maintains that none of
these is as convincing as the proposal that the event actually happened. For instance, he dis
misses with a single footnote (p. 709 n. 70) the idea that Jesus might have been placed in
the tomb unconscious and then later recovered. Such a suggestion is implausible: the
Romans were very good at killing people and at making sure they were dead. But can we
bl t hi t i h t Ch i ti th i t t thi k it l ibl
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