Resurrection

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This article concerns itself with Jewish, Christian, Islamic and other religious interpretations of the concept of the resurrection of the dead.

For other uses, see Resurrection (disambiguation).

The term resurrection is used in the literal sense to mean either the religious concept of the reunion of the spirit and the body of a dead person, or the return to life of a dead person. It is used in a figurative sense about broken or discontinued things which were never alive, but which have been restored to a functional state; for example a company which had failed but is reopened by a new owner. The majority point of view is that Rebirth is a different but analogous religious concept; but there is a minority point of view among Jewish mystics, Gnostics, Sufis and Albigensians that resurrection is more or less identical to Rebirth. The word resuscitation is used for return to life after clinical death by medical procedures.

Today, the word is sometimes also used to indicate the resuscitation/revival of some thing or idea from a death-state, such as ruin, disinterest, obscurity, etc.

Contents 1 Mesopotamia and the classical world 2 Judaeo-Christian 2.1 Judaism 2.1.1 The afterlife in the Tanakh 2.2 Christianity 2.3 Modern De-emphasis in Christianity and Judaism 3 Islam 4 Modern India 5 Modern Finland 6 Bodily disappearances 7 See also 8 Additional reading 9 External links 10 references 11 Citations

[edit] Mesopotamia and the classical world

In the literal sense of the word, resurrection refers to the event of a dead person returning to physical life. Thus it is not to be confused with things like Hellenistic immortality in which the soul continues to live after death, "free" of the body.

"Centuries before the time of Christ the nations annually celebrated the death and resurrection of Osiris, Tammuz, Attis, Mithra, and other gods" [1]. A cyclic dying-and-rising god motif was prevalent throughout ancient Mesopotamian and classical literature and practice (eg in Syrian and Greek worship of Adonis; Egyptian worship of Osiris; the Babylonian story of Tammuz; rural religious belief in the Corn King).

[edit] Judaeo-Christian

Despite the Mesopotamian concept of resurrection, belief in personal resurrection (before the Common Era) was known among only one culture: the Hebrews.

From the time of its development from within Judaism during the second-Temple period to the incipient decades of Christianity, the meaning of the word acquired sharper edges and mutations, to include differentiating the common quality of the premortem body from the new glorious quality of the postmortem body (cf. 1 Cor. 15:35-54 and the Gospel accounts of Easter). It held to a permanent unification of physical body and soul.

Resurrection was used figuratively as a metaphor both for the national restoration of Israel (Ezek. 37) in Judaism, and for the regenerate life (the Apostle Paul) in Christianity.

[edit] Judaism

Most of the Tanakh (Old Testament) makes no mention of any resurrection of the dead. Rather, the family tomb is the central concept in understanding biblical views of the afterlife. When Jacob dies, he says "I am about to be gathered to my kin. Bury me with my forefathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite." [Genesis 49:29] All the Jewish patriarchs (except Rachel) were buried in the family cave, and so were many other biblical personalities, including King Saul and King David. Herbert Brichto notes that it is "not mere sentimental respect for the physical remains that is...the motivation for the practice, but rather an assumed connection between proper sepulture and the condition of happiness of the deceased in the afterlife" ^[1]

The early Israelites apparently believed that the graves of family, or tribe, united into one. This unified collectivity became known as Sheol. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the dead went after the body died. The Babylonians had a similar underworld called Aralu, and the Greeks had one known as Hades. For biblical references to Sheol see Genesis 42:38, Isaiah 14:11, Psalm 141:7, Daniel 12:2, Proverbs 7:27 and Job 10:21,22, and 17:16, among others. Other Biblical names for Sheol were: Abbadon (ruin), found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11; Bor (the pit), found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, Ezekiel 26:20; and Shakhat (corruption), found in Isaiah 38:17, Ezekiel 28:8.

In the Tanakh ("Old Testament"), Elijah’s raising of a young boy from death (1 Kings 17-23), and, Elisha’s duplication of the feat (2 Kings 4:34-35), were viewed within the scope of Jewish worldview and theology more as resuscitations than bona fide resurrection which, for the Hebrews at least, came to denote the final 'rising' of all people to irreversible continuation of (some kind of) bodily life.

Other common associations are the biblical accounts of the antediluvian Enoch and the prophet Elijah being ushered into the presence of God without experiencing death. These, however, are more in the way of ascensions, bodily disappearances , translations or apotheoses than resurrections.

And there is Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones being restored as a living army: a metaphorical prophecy that the house of Israel would one day be gathered from the nations, out of exile, to live in the land of Israel once more. The actual doctrine of a bodily resurrection is found in the book of Daniel, where a mysterious angelic figure tells Daniel, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2)

Other passages in the Old Testament referring to the resurrection of the dead are:

• 1 Sam. 2: 6 - "he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up"
• Job 19: 26 - "after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God"
• Isa. 26: 19 - "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise"
• Ezek. 37: 12 - "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up"

In the First Century B.C.E, there were debates between the Pharisees who believed in the future Resurrection, and the Sadducees who did not, over whether or not there was an afterlife. The majority of Jews seemed to have embraced the belief that there was an afterlife, evidenced by their volatile tendency to revolt for YHWH's kingdom and its privileges, one of which was resurrection (cf. the narratives of the Maccabees, Josephus' Wars of the Jews).

Formalized in the First Century C.E., the second blessing of the central daily Jewish prayer is called Tehiyyat ha-Metim ("the resurrection of the dead") and closes with the words m'chayei hameitim ("who gives life to the dead") i.e., resurrection.

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism reject Resurrection. Accordingly, they have modified the text to read m'chayei hakol ("who gives life to all").

Conservative Judaism has some thinkers who support the concept; though its prayer books overwhelmingly include the traditional Hebrew text, many use an ambiguous translation into English that leaves open the possibility, but not the requirement, to believe in resurrection. [2]

Orthodox Judaism insists that belief in the Resurrection of the Dead is one of the cardinal principles of the Jewish faith. The famous Jewish halakhic-legal authority, Maimonides, set down thirteen main principles of the Jewish faith according to Orthodox Judaism which have ever since been printed in all Rabbinic prayer books (Siddurim). Resurrection is the thirteenth principle:

• "I believe with complete (perfect) faith, that there will be techiat hameitim - revival of the dead, whenever it will be God's, blessed be He, will (desire) to arise and do so. May (God's) Name be blessed, and may His remembrance arise, forever and ever."

[edit] The afterlife in the Tanakh

See: Jewish eschatology: Biblical verses

[edit] Christianity

Main article: Resurrection of Jesus

Main article: Resurrection of the dead

Since Christianity was born out of Jewish praxis and worldview, it is worthwhile to point out that Christianity's doctrine of resurrection is an outgrowth of the Jewish belief.

While the Christian doctrine of resurrection conforms to Jewish belief, there is, however, a minority point of view, held by certain Jewish mystics and others, which asserts that those Jewish beliefs are, in and of themselves, in contradiction of the Revelation and Doctrine of the resurrection as taught by Isaiah (Isaiah 8:16 and 26:19), Daniel (12:1 and 13) and Malachi (3:23-24), in which the resurrection was understood as being a Doctrine of 'Rebirth'.

Jesus himself, in this matter, appears to have been in general agreement with the doctrinal position held by the Pharisees, as illustrated by his response to a question regarding marriage at the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-32).

If the minority viewpoint on the doctrine of the resurrection is correct, the fundamental conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees would have been over the interpretation of the resurrection as a Doctrine of 'Rebirth'. According to this viewpoint, the Pharisees misinterpreted It as the doctrine of a physical raising of a dead body from the grave, while the Sadducees denied the resurrection altogether.

Most Christian churches continue to uphold this belief: that there will be a general resurrection of the dead at "the end of time", as prophesied by Paul when he said, "...he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world..." (Acts 17:31 KJV) and "...there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts 24:15 KJV). Most also teach that it is only as a result of the atoning work of Christ, by grace through faith, that people are spared eternal punishment as judgment for their sins.

Early Christianity is closest to the Pharisaic view of the resurrection, rather than that of the Sadducees who believed in no afterlife.

There is also a minority point of view, held by the Gnostic writers of the Nag Hammadi Codices, that Jesus taught the resurrection as a Doctrine of 'Rebirth'; in which case Paul, the Pharisee, is understood as having contradicted the Teaching of Jesus on the resurrection; a doctrine which then established the basis of Christian theology.

Many of the early Church Fathers cited the Old Testament examples listed in the Judaism section above as either foreshadowing Jesus's resurrection, or foreshadowing or prophesying a future resurrection of all the dead. The Nicene Creed concludes that Christians "look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come."

In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus is said to have raised several persons from death, including the daughter of Jairus shortly after death, a young man in the midst of his own funeral procession, and Lazarus, who had been buried for four days. According to the Gospel of Matthew, at the moment of Jesus's death, tombs opened, and many who were dead awakened. After Jesus's resurrection, many of the dead saints came out of their tombs and entered Jerusalem, where they appeared to many.

A minority point of view is that this particular passage from Matthew is to be understood as a metaphorical description of the revelation of the memories of previous lives; the argument being that, had this occurred in the space-time reality, there would have been some mention of it in the historical record.

Similar resuscitations are credited to Christian apostles and saints. Peter raised a woman named Dorcas (called Tabitha), and Paul restored a man named Eutychus who had fallen asleep and fell from a window to his death, according to the book of Acts.

[edit] Modern De-emphasis in Christianity and Judaism

At the close of the medieval period, the modern era brought a shift in Christian thinking from an emphasis on the resurrection of the body back to the immortality of the soul. ^[2] This theological and philosophical shift was a result of zeitgeist, or the historical reaction, particularly to the renaissance and later to the enlightenment. Dartigues has observed that especially “from the 17th to the 19th century, the language of popular piety no longer evoked the resurrection of the soul but everlasting life. Although theological textbooks still mentioned resurrection, they dealt with it as a speculative question more than as an existential problem.”^[3]

This theological shift was supported largely by the popular religion of the age of enlightenment, deism. Deism was known as the religion of nature. It allowed for a superior being, such as the philosophical first cause, but denied any significant personal or relational interaction with this god figure. There were many types of deism “ranging from Christian deism to militant anti-Christian deism.”^[4] Deism, which was largely lead by rationality and reason, could allow a belief in the immortality of the soul, but not necessarily in the resurrection of the dead. The significant American deist Ethan Allen demonstrates the fashionable thinking in his work, Reason the Only Oracle of Man (1784). In the preface, he argues that nearly every philosophical problem is beyond humanity’s understanding including the miracles of Christianity although he does allow for the immortality of an immaterial soul.^[5] In Christianity the reaction of many churches tended to become friendly with the more popular deist thinking and subsequently Christian preachers spoke less of the resurrection of the dead, and more of eternal life in heaven.

Interestingly Judaism followed a similar path in reaction to the enlightenment and deism. Although Judaism had formally accepted the resurrection of the dead since the Mishnah (Sanh. 10.1) and in the liturgy (“Elohai Neshamah” and “Shemoneh ‘Esreh’”), the deistic school had affected some in that religion as well.^[6] The well-known Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn had essentially revived the Platonic-friendly belief in the immortality of the soul as the goal of man in his work Phaedon. The Jewish Encyclopedia concludes “Thenceforth Judaism emphasized the doctrine of immortality, in both its religious instruction and its liturgy, while the dogma of resurrection was gradually discarded and in the Reform rituals, eliminated from the prayer-books.”^[7]

In modern Christianity heaven is almost always spoken of as the goal of the believer. For example the famous early 20th century American preacher Billy Sunday epitomizes the sentiment in his sermon “Heaven: A Wonderful Place; Where There is No More Death; Blessed Hope of the Christian.” In the message Sunday characteristically explained the feelings of his audience by saying “Everybody wants to go to Heaven. We are all curious. We want to know, where Heaven is, how it looks, who are there, what they wear, and how to get there!” Sunday speaks of many aspects of the afterlife such as the nice weather and eternal health, although there is no mention of the resurrection of the dead. He ends with an illustration about a man who dies and goes to heaven exclaiming “Home, home at last!” as if he had arrived at the end of his eschatological journey. ^[8]

The emphasis on the immortality of the soul in heaven instead of the resurrection of the dead continues largely in the 21st century through popular charismatic and evangelical preaching. For example, The popular website www.believeinjesus.org begin a presentation of the Christian gospel with the statement “There is no inquiry that can rival the importance of the question, ‘How do I get to heaven?’”[3] Jesus is often spoken of as “the way to heaven” and personal eschatology is generally seen in terms of whether or not a person gets into heaven when they die, rather than how they will fare at the eschatological resurrection of the dead. However, some popular Christian writers, such as Randy Alcorn and N.T. Wright have defended the primacy of the resurrection in Christian faith.

[edit] Islam

Those who believe in Allah and did good deeds in their lives will go to heaven and live there for eternity. Those who did not believe in Allah and did bad deeds in their lives will burn in hell for eternity. Humans and other creatures of Allah are then made to account for all their deeds, and their final abode — Jannah or Jahannam — is determined by Allah's Grace and justice during the Day of Judgement.

One of the reasons Mohammed was sent was to explain the Doctrine of 'resurrection' and the terms 'heaven' and 'hell' from within the context of Revelations received from Allah.

[edit] Modern India

Other accounts of resurrections are as follows:

• ¹Lahiri Mahasaya raised Rama a friend of Sri Yukteswar to life.
• ² Lahiri Mahasaya himself resurrected.
• ³ A guru by the name of Swami Sri Yukteswar.
• ⁴ While attending a conference, Walter Cowan was pronounced dead on the morning of December 25, 1971 of a heart attack. Later in the day, he was found sitting up in a hospital bed alive raised to life by Sai Baba. Walter recounts witnessing Sai Baba convincing a council to let him live again to perform a purpose.

[edit] Modern Finland

William M. Branham raised a boy involved in a bicycle accident near Kuopio, Finland from the dead.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Bodily disappearances

As the knowledge of different religions has grown, the bodily disappearance of Divine Heroes has been found to be common. In ancient times pagan similarities were explained by the early Christian writers, such as Justin Martyr, as the work of demons and Satan, with the intention of leading Christians astray. Gesar, the Savior of Tibet, at the end, chants on a mountain top and his clothes fall empty to the ground. The bodies of the Divine Gurus of Sikhism vanish after their deaths. There is a traditional spot in Jerusalem whence, while mounted, Muhammad and his horse both ascend into the sky. This shows a variety in traditions, for Muhummad's famous tomb in Mecca is visited every year by the faithful.

Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern lists many Divine Heroes whose bodies disappear, or have more than one sepulchre. B. Traven, author of The Treasure of Sierra Madre, wrote that the Inca Divine Hero, Virococha, walked away on the top of the sea and vanished. It has been thought that teachings regarding the purity and incorruptibility of the Divine Hero's human body are linked to this phenomenon. Perhaps, this is also to deter the practice of disturbing and collecting the hero's remains. They are safely protected if they have disappeared. In Deuteronomy (34:6) Moses is secretly buried. Elijah vanishes in a whirlwind 2 Kings (2:11).

[edit] See also

Holy trinity Fleur de lys Assumption of Mary Resurrection of Jesus Quetzalcoatl Samaritans Immortality Last Judgment

Vodun Phoenix Corporeal reanimation Spock Kenny McCormick Comic book death Zombie

[edit] Additional reading

• William F. Albright, From Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and Historical Process
• Oscar Cullmann, “Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?” in Immortality and Resurrection Ed. Krister Stendahl. New York: 1965. pp. 9-35. (available online)
• Alexandra David-Neel, The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling ( While still in oral tradition, the Divine Hero of Tibet and Asia is discovered and recorded for the first time, by an early European traveler).
• Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov. Philosophy of Physical Resurrection 1906.
• Edwin Hatch, Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church (1888 Hibbert Lectures).
• Ronald F. Hock, The Favored One: How Mary Became the Mother of God, Bible Review, p. 12-25, June 2001.
• Richard Longenecker, Editor. Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
• George Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestmental Judaism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.
• Zoe Oldenburg. Massacre at Montsegur. A History of the Albigensian Crusade. Translated fom the French by Peter Green (1959).
• James Robinson, Editor. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. New York: Harper Collins, 1977.
• Jean-Marc Rouvière, Le silence de Lazare, Desclée De Brouwer: Paris, 1996.
• B. Traven, The Creation of the Sun and Moon, 1968.
• N.T. Wright. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

[edit] External links

• Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story - Columbia University Historian Richard Carrier (analyzes evidence for the resurrection of Jesus)
• Perspectives on the Resurrection - ABC News 20/20 Special (focuses on resurrection of Jesus)
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Resurrection
• the Christian apostle Paul on the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead (the Church) in I Corinthians 15 [4]

[edit] references

1. ^ Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife - A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44, p.8 (1973)
2. ^ Enclopedia of Christian Theology Vol. 3, “Resurrection of the Dead” by Andre Dartigues, ed. by Jean-Yves Lacoste (New York: Routledge, 2005), 1381.
3. ^ Ibid., 1382.
4. ^ The Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Vol. 1, A-K, “Deism,” Edited by Gordon Stein (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1985), 134.
5. ^ Ibid.
6. ^ The Encyclopedia of Judaism, Vol. 6, “Immortality of the Soul” (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1906), 567.
7. ^ Ibid., 566.
8. ^ Billy Sunday “Heaven: A Wonderful Place; Where There is No More Death; Blessed Hope of the Christian” A Sermon reprinted in The Sword of the Lord Vol. 71, no. 21 Oct 7, 2005. p. 1, 20-21.

[edit] Citations

¹ Cited from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, page 336.

² Ibid, p.396.

³ Ibid, p.475.

⁴ from My Baba and I by Dr. John S. Hislop, pages 28-31.