Robert Schneider wrote:
..........................
I respect Adrian's contention that there is sufficient evidence in the
> gospels themselves to give him reasons to think that the resurrection did in
> fact happen. John Polkinghorne, in _Quarks, Chaos and Christianity_, makes
> a thoughtful case for it on the basis of the same accounts. Still, Jim
> would say, "I *believe* that God raised Jesus from the dead," not "I know
> that Jesus rose from the dead."
.................................................
A good case can be made for the basic historical truth of the
resurrection accounts - Pannenberg in _Jesus - God and Man_ does so. But one
could believe that Jesus indeed rose from the dead without regarding it as more
than an inexplicable "Believe It Or Not" happening. What is central to
distinctively Christian faith is trust in the crucified and the one who raised
him from the dead.
In the creeds we say we "believe in" Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - not
that we "know" certain things. But we don't say simply "we believe in the
resurrection of Jesus." It's a bit more subtle. I would say that the creedal
statement "On the third day he rose again" is part of the identification of the
one in whom we believe. I.e., we have reason (the apostolic witness) to believe
that he was raised - though not strict analytic proof. _And_ we place our trust
in the one who was raised.
The situation is, however, a little more complicated than that. Trust
in the resurrection of the crucified gives us a certain standpoint from which we
can try to understand our lives and the world. The fact that we can understand
our experience more adequately from this standpoint than we could from some
other point of view is one reason we have this trust. But in this light we also
evaluate the historical evidence for the resurrection differently. It's a kind
of feedback process - fides quarens intellectum.
An excellent overall treatment of the resurrection is Gerald O'Collins,
_Jesus Risen_ (Paulist, 1987).
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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