Resurrection

Resurrection of the Flesh (1499-1502) Fresco by Luca Signorelli
Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto

Resurrection is most commonly associated with the raising of a person from death back to life, or the reuniting of the spirit and the body of an individual. What this means depends upon one's presuppositions about the nature of the human person, especially with regard to the existence of a soul or spirit counterpart to the physical body. The term plays a particularly powerful role in Christianity, as the resurrection of Jesus is its core foundation. What the nature of the resurrected body is an issue still debated on. But, if the resurrestion of the body is considered to restore the psychosomatic unity of a human personality, it carries important implications. Recent philosophers of religion, therefore, insightfully try to connect this restored psychosomatic unity with the continuation of a personal identity and of spiritual growth beyond physical death.

Classical Greek Philosophy

Classical Greek philosophy sharply divides a human being into two parts, body and soul. The soul is both pre-existent and immortal, but in this life it is imprisoned or entombed in the body. Physical death simply means the return of the soul to its original world of immortality. Resurrection means reincarnation (metempshychosis, transmigration of the soul), borrowing another body. Among the ancient Greeks, Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato are well known for their teachings on reincarnation. Platonism is often considered to be most representative of Classical Greek philosophy on this topic.

Ancient Religions in Palestine and Mesopotamia

Accounts of the resurrection of a deity can be seen in ancient religions and myths in Palestine and Mesopotamia. Accorings to Joseph McCabe, "Centuries before the time of Christ the nations [in that region] annually celebrated the death and resurrection of Osiris, Tammuz, Attis, Mithra, and other gods." A cyclic dying-and-rising god motif was prevalent throughout ancient Mesopotamian and classical literature and practice (e.g., in Syrian and Greek worship of Adonis; Egyptian worship of Osiris; the Babylonian story of Tammuz; rural religious belief in the Corn King).

World Religions

The Platonic-type view of a pre-existent soul and its transmigration into the physical realm until final release in perfection is reached through a process of development taking many lifetimes (Hindu-Buddhist) or one (Latter Day Saints), is one form of belief about resurrection. In Buddhism, the perfected person may return to the earth in a new body in order to assist others on their path of spiritual growth.

Islam has a strong doctrine of resurrection in terms of the final judgement of all human beings. The dead will rise from their graves for the judgement, through which the faithful will be brought to eternal life in paradise, while the wicked will be sent to hell to suffer in eternal flames.

Judaism

The Pre-Maccabaean Era

Prior to the Maccabaean struggle with Antiochus Epiphanese in the second century B.C.E., the notion of bodily resurrection or reincarnation was basically absent in Judaism, which, unlike Greek philosophy, did not recognize the immortality of the soul and which was also contnent with the idea of Sheol as the permanent abode of shades of all departed. Even so, we can still find passages in the Hebrew Bible that can be take to mean some kind of resurrection:

• 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.
• 1 Samuel 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"
• Isaiah 26:19 - "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise"
• Ezekiel 37:12 - "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up"

Other passages may be more ambiguous: in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Elijah raises a young boy from death (1 Kings 17-23), and Elisha duplicates the feat (2 Kings 4:34-35). There are a multiplicity of views on the scopes of these acts, including the traditional view that they represented genuine miracles and critical views that they represented resuscitations rather than bona fide resurrections. 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.

The Maccabaean and Post-Maccabaean Era

According to Richardson's dictionary, "The Hebrews did not conceive of the soul as existing apart from the body (except perhaps in the unreal and shadowy existence of Sheol, the underworld of departed spirits). A man was a living body. …a man dies and literally ceases to exist: his resurrection (a late Old Testament idea which became normative Pharisaic teaching) was the result of an act of new creation by God."

Medieval Judaism came to insist that belief in revival of the Dead is one of the cardinal principles of the Jewish faith. A famous Jewish halakhic, legal authority, Maimonides, set down 13 main principles of the Jewish faith according to Orthodox Judaism and Resurrection is printed in all Rabbinic prayer books to the present time. It is the thirteenth principle and states:

• "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."

In the Tanakh (also called by Christians the Old Testament), Elisha is said to have raised a young boy from death. However, this boy and other resurrected persons are traditionally held to have eventually died. Also of interest are the Biblical accounts that Enoch and the prophet Elijah were removed into the presence of God without experiencing death, and the traditional belief that the grave of Moses cannot be found because the prophet was raised from the dead. Both Moses and Elijah are said to be seen with Jesus during the transfiguration. There is also Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones being restored as a living army, followed by a prophesy that the house of Israel would one day be brought out of their graves to live in the land of Israel.

Christianity

In Jesus' Ministry

At the time of Jesus there were debates between the Pharisees and the Sadducees over whether or not there was immortality - and thus over whether or not there was an afterlife, or there could be a general resurrection. In these matters, Jesus was closer to the opinion of the Pharisees. Most Christian churches teach that there will be a general resurrection of the dead at the "end of time". Fundamental Christian belief is that when Jesus comes again, the saints will come back to life in the flesh. Their bodies, buried in the earth and completely decomposed, will be reconstituted to their original state. This is attributed to passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:16:

• "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."

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 three days. At the moment of Jesus' death tombs open and many who are dead awaken. After Jesus' resurrection many of the dead saints come out of their tombs and enter Jerusalem, where they appear to many, according to the Gospel of Matthew.

Resurrections 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.

The Virgin Mary is also believed by some Christians to have been taken bodily into heaven, after her death (this belief, the Assumption of Mary, was made dogma in 1950 by the Roman Catholic Church). In one tradition Mary's assumption takes place at Ephesus. Here, she lived out her later years, under the care of the apostle John. There have been many claims through the centuries of seeing Mary.

Jesus' Resurrection

The assertion that Jesus physically died and was buried and then returned to life on the third day, with no body left in the tomb, is foundational to biblical Christian faith. His appearances after his resurrection empowered his followers to spread their affirmation of his messiahship. Jesus' resurrection is proclaimed as victory over death, as an ascension to the "right hand of the Father". His resurrected existence was not physical, as he was able to appear and disappear suddenly and he was viewed rising from the earth into the clouds at his departure. Nonetheless it was not as an apparition or ghost; as he could eat and be fully present to those who witnessed him.

Christian Theology

In Pauline belief, adopted by most Christian teachings, saved believers will experience resurrection when Christ returns, but, similar to Jesus in his resurrected state, it will not be normal physical existence, but rather as a "glorified" or "spiritual" body (1 Corinthians 15:35-54), "a body of a new order, the perfect instrument of the spirit, raised above the limitations of the earthly body, with which it will be identical only in the sense that it will be the recognizable organism of the same personality." In Richardson's words, "The idea of 'the resurrection of the body' (cf. the Apostles' Creed) was the natural Hebraic manner of speaking about the risen life of Christians with Christ: it is in the body that persons are recognizable as individuals with their own personal identity. Hence 'resurrection of the body' means resurrection after death to a fully personal life with Christ in God, and this is what Christians should understand when they profess the Apostles' Creed."

Unificationism

The Unificationist teachings of Reverend Sun Myung Moon affirm resurrection in a way that is considered consistent with "the modern state of human knowledge." The core theological text, Exposition of the Divine Principle, states that "resurrection means to come back to life," meaning one has been dead. Therefore "we must clarify the biblical concepts of life and death."" The Bible contains different concepts of life and death, physical and spiritual. Spiritual death is "leaving the bosom of God’s love and falling under the dominion of Satan." The corresponding concept of spiritual life refers to "the state of living in accordance with God’s Will, within the dominion of God’s infinite love."

Reverend Moon argues that the second, or spiritual, meaning of resurrection is the only one that makes sense and that, in addition, it is biblical. Human beings have a physical body and a spirit body. The former is a temporal entity, part of the natural physical order and subject to its laws. The latter is an eternal entity that abides in a spiritual realm, called spirit world, after the death of the physical body. The physical body will eventually die. The death caused by sin is not the death of the physical body, but is rather the death of the human spirit, in which there is no connection to God. The resurrection of the physical body does not connect one to God. The term resurrection applies to a spiritual phenomenon, the passage from spiritual death, the realm of the fall, sin and Satan, to spiritual life, the realm of true love, goodness and God. The text finds this view consistent with the biblical passage: "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death." (1 John 3:14)

In Unification Thought resurrection is usually a process, not instanteous like turning on a television. Turning from a life of sin to a life of goodness can take place in one moment, but changing habits takes a period of time. Resurrection can include a "change of lineage," as it is stated: "…because we inherited Satan's lineage as a result of Adam's fall, we are dead; when we return to the lineage of God through Christ, we shall be resurrected to life."

For Unificationism, resurrection encompasses all dimensions of spiritual growth, including social transformation. The Divine Principle enumerates four points relevant to this process:

1. It is historical; that is, the progress of each human generation is inherited by the next. This is called "the merit of the age."
2. Human growth requires the combined effort of God, whose role is to give His Word and guidance, and human beings, whose responsibility is to believe and practice it.
3. (Critical in the Unification belief system) Spiritual growth comes about only on the basis of deeds carried out in the physical world; "the resurrection of a spirit can be achieved only through earthly life."
4. This process takes place through three ordered stages.

The first of these tenets implies that the further one goes back in post-fall history, the less spiritual growth was possible. This is because human spiritual progress came about through the successes of specific individuals and the spiritual growth of religious spheres and cultures. Divine Principle names Abraham and his family, Moses and Jesus, but also credits other religious founders and cultures as moving humanity forward toward spiritual ressurection.

One more aspect of the Divine Principle is significant: spiritual resurrection takes place through physical life. The physical body is the environment for the development of the spirit. This means that all spirits of departed persons can achieve further spiritual growth only by participation in someone's, usually a descendent's, physical life. Our good acts on earth, therefore, benefit spirits that surround us. The Divine Principle refers to two biblical passages in this connection:

• "…apart from us they [spirits] should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:40)

• "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18)

This explains the brief appearance of saints who rose from their tombs and were seen in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. (Matthew 27:52) They came, it is said, to help their descendants on earth believe in Jesus and thereby gain for themselves and the spiritual ancestors the benefit of redemption by the cross. Here the Unification teaching would agree with the Roman Catholic basis for indulgences, the Latter Day Saints' "baptism of the dead," and the appeasement of spirits generic to most eastern and autochthonous faiths.

Bodily disappearances

Christian knowledge of the belief in bodily disappearance of Divine Heroes, or Saviors, in other religions around the world is relatively new and sometimes unwelcome. For these similarities, contemporary evangelical Christians have coined the phrase "Satanic Counterfeits". In addition, some Christians argue that because resurrection stories in these "mystery religions" almost always center around agricultural cycles (i.e. seeding and harvest) and involve their god dying and being resurrected every year then any resemblance to the resurrection of Jesus is strictly superficial. [1] In ancient times, known pagan similarities were many times explained by early Christian writers (curiously, except Justin Martyr) as the work of demons.

As the knowledge of different religions has grown, the bodily disappearance of Divine Heroes has been found to be common. 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. The fact that many Muslims visit Mohammed's tomb in Mecca shows a variety of beliefs.

Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern[2] lists many Divine Heroes whose bodies disappear, or have more than one sepulcher. 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 in 2 Kings (2:11).

Recommended reading

• Fyodorov, Nikolai Fyodorovich. Philosophy of Physical Resurrection 1906
• Wright, Tom. The Resurrection of the Son of God. 2003, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, ISBN 0800626796
• Albright, William Foxwell, From Stone Age to Christianity: Monotheism and Historical Process 2003, ISBN 1592443397
• Hatch, Edwin,Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church (1888 Hibbert Lectures), 1995, ISBN 0913573612
• Hock, Ronald F., The Favored One: How Mary Became the Mother of God, Bible Review, p. 12-25, June 2001. Also in this issue: Limberis, Vasiliki, The Battle Over Mary, top of p. 22-23

External links

• Why should I believe in the Resurrection and the Afterlife?
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Resurrection
• Philosophy Now
• Minds in the Making
• Gnosticism
• Divine Principle

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Resurrection  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Resurrection"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.