Resurrection

Book excerpt: Christian faith depends upon the resurrection of Jesus, but the claim about Jesus’ resurrection is, nevertheless, disputed. This book, written by a New Testament scholar and a systematic theologian in conjunction, develops the conditions for the claim. It carefully analyzes the relevant texts and their possible interpretations and engages with New Testament scholarship in order to show nuances and different trajectories in the material. The picture emerging is that the New Testament authors themselves tried to come to terms with how to understand the claim that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. But the book does not stop there: by also asking for the experiential content that gave rise to the belief in the resurrection. Sandnes and Henriksen argue that there is no such thing as an experience of the resurrection reported in the New Testament—only experiences of an empty tomb and appearance of Jesus, interpreted as Jesus resurrected. Hence, resurrection emerges as an interpretative category for post-Easter experiences, and is only understandable in light of the full content of Jesus’ ministry and its context.