In 1 Corinthians 15:14 , Paul writes “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (King James Version)
Tom Wright (N.T. Wright) (NTWrightPage – and Professor N. T. Wright | Faculty of Theology and Religion), is one of the world’s foremost New Testament scholars and an Anglican bishop. He was Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at The University of St. Andrews until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford.
In this book from 2003 Wright provides a massive historical and theological argument for the bodily resurrection of Jesus, believing that it is the only viable explanation for the rise of early Christianity.
The author first takes us on a fascinating journey through ancient beliefs about life after death, from the shadowy figures who inhabit Homer’s Hades, through Plato’s hope for a blessed immortality, to the first century, where the Greek and Roman world (apart from the Jews) consistently denied any possibility of bodily resurrection.
He then examines ancient Jewish beliefs on the same subject, from the Scriptures to the Dead Sea Scrolls and beyond. This sets the scene for a full-scale examination of early Christian beliefs about resurrection in general and that of Jesus in particular, beginning with Paul and working through to the start of the third century AD.
Wright looks at all the evidence, and asks: Why did the Christians agree with Jewish resurrection belief while introducing into it – across the board – significant modifications?
Here the reader comes to the strange and evocative Easter stories in the gospels and the question is whether they can have been late inventions. Wright seeks the best historical conclusions about the empty tomb and the belief that Jesus really did rise bodily from the dead, arguing that it was this belief that caused early Christians to call Jesus ‘Son of God’.
In doing so, they posed a political challenge as well as a theological one. These challenges have reverberated right down to the twenty-first century.
Check if this massive work of scholarship is in stock at your local library by consulting the online catalogue here Home | South Lanarkshire Libraries (sllclibrary.co.uk)
To follow up in the subjects of resurrection and afterlife consult ‘Surviving Death‘ (2010) by Mark Johnston (Surviving Death (Carl G. Hempel Lecture Series): 1: Amazon.co.uk: Johnston, Mark: 9780691130132: Books), ‘The Myth of an Afterlife‘ (2015) edited by Michael Martin and Keith Augustine (Myth of an Afterlife: The Case Against Life After Death: Amazon.co.uk: Keith Augustine, Michael Martin: 9780810886773: Books), ‘Philosophy and the Belief in a Life After Death‘ (1995) by R.W.K. Paterson (Philosophy and the Belief in a Life After Death (Library of Philosophy and Religion) : Paterson, R. W. K.: Amazon.co.uk: Books), ‘Death and the Afterlife‘ (2013) by Samuel Scheffler (Death and the Afterlife (The Berkeley Tanner Lectures) : Scheffler, Samuel, Kolodny, Niko: Amazon.co.uk: Books), ‘Survival and Disembodied Existence‘ (1970) by Terence Penelhum (Survival and Disembodied Existence (Study in Philosophy Psychology): Amazon.co.uk: Penelhum, Terence: 9780710067234: Books) and ‘Immortality‘ by Stephen Cave (2012) (Immortality by Stephen Cave – Scott’s Book Review)
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The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright
740 pages in Augsburg Fortress
First published 2003
ISBN-13 : 978-0800636159
N.T. Wright