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Jesus Christ Landed On The Moon: Fact or Fiction?
The Resurrection. Did it really happen?
By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR
March 27, 2005
From "The Resurrection" by Matthias Grũnewald, 1515.
Great artists paint it. Famous composers produce masterpieces inspired by it. Leading theologians write books about it. The event stands alone as a single word, without need of description or definition.
Resurrection.
Today, on Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the defining moment of their faith: a crucified Jesus rising from the dead, living proof of his divinity.
But did it really happen?
And how much does it matter for a religion that has grown from a band of disciples to the world's largest body, claiming a third of the population? Roughly 7 of 10 Americans identify themselves as Christians in surveys.
In U.S. opinion polls, the literal account of Jesus' Resurrection wins in a landslide. But religion is not a contest and Easter isn't an Election Day where one group of Christians wins out over another.
There are no photographs of an empty tomb. No home videos of Doubting Thomas checking Jesus' wounds. And there's no "CSI: Jerusalem." Instead, there is lingering disagreement over what was written centuries ago in Scriptures and what was meant.
"The classic Christian understanding of the Resurrection is that it did happen, it literally happened in a way that remains fundamentally mysterious," said the Rev. Lawrence Bausch, rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Ocean Beach.
Bausch turns to a famous passage in the New Testament from the apostle Paul, who writes that without the raising of Christ, all their beliefs are in vain. "In the end, if there is no Resurrection, then when you're dead you're dead," is how Bausch puts it. "There is nothing to be hoped for."
But there are Christians who simply don't buy into the physical Resurrection account.
Led by revisionist Jesus scholars such as Marcus Borg of Oregon State University, a movement of people view the biblical stories as metaphors on how to live life today. What is emerging, writes Borg in his 2003 book, "The Heart of Christianity," is "a new way of seeing Christianity and what it means to be Christian."
The Rev. Laurel Gray, a retired Lutheran minister who lives in El Cajon, is one of these adherents. "There are a lot of people, I would say, who are coming out of the closet, so to speak, and saying, 'Let's talk about this,' " said Gray, who leads an informal, ecumenical group of questioning seekers called the Church Alumni Association of San Diego.
For Gray, the Resurrection was spiritual, not physical. He says believing this doesn't diminish his faith. "I consider myself a Christian because I believe in the things Jesus taught," he added. Things like loving your enemy. "He introduced me to some principles that I think no one else has."
But for other Christians, if there is no bodily, physical rising, then Jesus runs the risk of becoming any other person who dies and lives on in our memories. "The enormity of the Resurrection is that he really does conquer death," said Bernadeane Carr, a Roman Catholic theologian and director of the Diocesan Institute, a San Diego diocese training program for religion teachers in Catholic schools.
It's a question of eternity. "The essence of Easter, of the celebration of Christ's Resurrection, is the grounding of our hope of eternal life," Carr said.
In traditional Christian theology, Jesus' death was a holy ransom, his life sacrificed for the sins of others, so that they might have eternal life. The Resurrection sealed the deal and a new religion was born, with Jesus as Messiah, Savior, the Christ.
Even nearly 2,000 years later, the miracle of the Resurrection is so powerful for followers that they leave their homes in darkness to celebrate with the sunrise from the beach at Coronado to the cross at Mount Helix.
"Without the Resurrection, there would be no reason to follow Jesus because that would mean there would be no eternal life," said Greg Allsup, who attends Calvary Chapel in El Cajon and leads a young adult group there. In other words: It's Easter, for Heaven's sake.
The Rev. M.A. "Mac" Collins, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in City Heights, would rather talk about taking Jesus' teachings more seriously – from his biblical examples of inclusiveness to his exhortations to care for your neighbors.
"If we did more of that and less worrying about our symbols and how they are perceived in society, perhaps we would be a greater witness of the Resurrection and our faith," Collins said.
Suzie Knapp echoes that thought when she talks about helping her students at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace in North Park "get it from the inside out."
Knapp, campus minister and religious studies teacher at the Catholic girls high school, agrees that "sometimes people really get hung up on the details of resurrected body." In other words: Don't debate it, live it.
Still, Knapp leans toward the bodily Resurrection. After all, the Bible tells of Jesus appearing to his followers after his death, talking with them and eating with them.
The literal biblical account is good enough for Pastor Jeremy McGinty, lead minister of theMovement, a 3-year-old contemporary evangelical congregation in San Marcos. "The truth of God's word is black and white," McGinty said.
Besides, he asks, where's the body? "If they could have found the body of Christ, the movement of Christianity would have been gone."
Is it any wonder Easter is the holiest day on the Christian calendar? That day is today for western Christianity; Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on May 1 this year.
"To me, it's absolutely huge," McGinty said. "To me, it's life or death. That's what's at stake."
Next spring, probably just in time for Easter 2006, the Rev. John Fanestil plans to come out with a book about Christianity and death. If Christians really believe in the meaning of the Easter message, Fanestil, senior pastor of La Mesa First United Methodist Church, argues they should be less fearful of death – and more trusting that it will be a spiritual communion with God.
As for Jesus' Resurrection, Fanestil says he can live with the mystery. "I believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, but I don't know what that looked like or felt like to Jesus' disciples," Fanestil said. "I can't answer the question of how it happened."
He suggests Christians push past the dissecting. "I think that trying to answer the 'how' questions will drive us crazy." Ultimately, he adds, "the question is, will we live our lives as those who trust that life will win out over death?"
By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR
March 27, 2005
From "The Resurrection" by Matthias Grũnewald, 1515.
Great artists paint it. Famous composers produce masterpieces inspired by it. Leading theologians write books about it. The event stands alone as a single word, without need of description or definition.
Resurrection.
Today, on Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the defining moment of their faith: a crucified Jesus rising from the dead, living proof of his divinity.
But did it really happen?
And how much does it matter for a religion that has grown from a band of disciples to the world's largest body, claiming a third of the population? Roughly 7 of 10 Americans identify themselves as Christians in surveys.
In U.S. opinion polls, the literal account of Jesus' Resurrection wins in a landslide. But religion is not a contest and Easter isn't an Election Day where one group of Christians wins out over another.
There are no photographs of an empty tomb. No home videos of Doubting Thomas checking Jesus' wounds. And there's no "CSI: Jerusalem." Instead, there is lingering disagreement over what was written centuries ago in Scriptures and what was meant.
"The classic Christian understanding of the Resurrection is that it did happen, it literally happened in a way that remains fundamentally mysterious," said the Rev. Lawrence Bausch, rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Ocean Beach.
Bausch turns to a famous passage in the New Testament from the apostle Paul, who writes that without the raising of Christ, all their beliefs are in vain. "In the end, if there is no Resurrection, then when you're dead you're dead," is how Bausch puts it. "There is nothing to be hoped for."
But there are Christians who simply don't buy into the physical Resurrection account.
Led by revisionist Jesus scholars such as Marcus Borg of Oregon State University, a movement of people view the biblical stories as metaphors on how to live life today. What is emerging, writes Borg in his 2003 book, "The Heart of Christianity," is "a new way of seeing Christianity and what it means to be Christian."
The Rev. Laurel Gray, a retired Lutheran minister who lives in El Cajon, is one of these adherents. "There are a lot of people, I would say, who are coming out of the closet, so to speak, and saying, 'Let's talk about this,' " said Gray, who leads an informal, ecumenical group of questioning seekers called the Church Alumni Association of San Diego.
For Gray, the Resurrection was spiritual, not physical. He says believing this doesn't diminish his faith. "I consider myself a Christian because I believe in the things Jesus taught," he added. Things like loving your enemy. "He introduced me to some principles that I think no one else has."
But for other Christians, if there is no bodily, physical rising, then Jesus runs the risk of becoming any other person who dies and lives on in our memories. "The enormity of the Resurrection is that he really does conquer death," said Bernadeane Carr, a Roman Catholic theologian and director of the Diocesan Institute, a San Diego diocese training program for religion teachers in Catholic schools.
It's a question of eternity. "The essence of Easter, of the celebration of Christ's Resurrection, is the grounding of our hope of eternal life," Carr said.
In traditional Christian theology, Jesus' death was a holy ransom, his life sacrificed for the sins of others, so that they might have eternal life. The Resurrection sealed the deal and a new religion was born, with Jesus as Messiah, Savior, the Christ.
Even nearly 2,000 years later, the miracle of the Resurrection is so powerful for followers that they leave their homes in darkness to celebrate with the sunrise from the beach at Coronado to the cross at Mount Helix.
"Without the Resurrection, there would be no reason to follow Jesus because that would mean there would be no eternal life," said Greg Allsup, who attends Calvary Chapel in El Cajon and leads a young adult group there. In other words: It's Easter, for Heaven's sake.
The Rev. M.A. "Mac" Collins, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in City Heights, would rather talk about taking Jesus' teachings more seriously – from his biblical examples of inclusiveness to his exhortations to care for your neighbors.
"If we did more of that and less worrying about our symbols and how they are perceived in society, perhaps we would be a greater witness of the Resurrection and our faith," Collins said.
Suzie Knapp echoes that thought when she talks about helping her students at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace in North Park "get it from the inside out."
Knapp, campus minister and religious studies teacher at the Catholic girls high school, agrees that "sometimes people really get hung up on the details of resurrected body." In other words: Don't debate it, live it.
Still, Knapp leans toward the bodily Resurrection. After all, the Bible tells of Jesus appearing to his followers after his death, talking with them and eating with them.
The literal biblical account is good enough for Pastor Jeremy McGinty, lead minister of theMovement, a 3-year-old contemporary evangelical congregation in San Marcos. "The truth of God's word is black and white," McGinty said.
Besides, he asks, where's the body? "If they could have found the body of Christ, the movement of Christianity would have been gone."
Is it any wonder Easter is the holiest day on the Christian calendar? That day is today for western Christianity; Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on May 1 this year.
"To me, it's absolutely huge," McGinty said. "To me, it's life or death. That's what's at stake."
Next spring, probably just in time for Easter 2006, the Rev. John Fanestil plans to come out with a book about Christianity and death. If Christians really believe in the meaning of the Easter message, Fanestil, senior pastor of La Mesa First United Methodist Church, argues they should be less fearful of death – and more trusting that it will be a spiritual communion with God.
As for Jesus' Resurrection, Fanestil says he can live with the mystery. "I believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, but I don't know what that looked like or felt like to Jesus' disciples," Fanestil said. "I can't answer the question of how it happened."
He suggests Christians push past the dissecting. "I think that trying to answer the 'how' questions will drive us crazy." Ultimately, he adds, "the question is, will we live our lives as those who trust that life will win out over death?"
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