167. n. t. wright, res. of son of god- review

7/30/2019 167. N. T. Wright, Res. of Son of God- Review

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76 Interpretation JANUARY 2004

The Resurrection of the Son of God

byN. T.Wright

Fortress, Minneapolis, 2003. 817 pp. $39.00. ISBN 0-8006-2681-8.

. T. WRIGHT HAS WRITTEN WHAT WILLprobably be viewed for many

yearsas

the definitive work on resurrection (and particularly the resur

rection ofChrist). The main intent ofthis mammoth undertaking may

be to establish the historical plausability ofJesus' resurrection, but even

readers who cannot accept Wright's conclusions in this regard will find much to inform

theirscholarship and, indeed, their preaching and teaching concerning what may be the

central doctrine ofthe Christian faith. The volumethe third in a series byWrightis

dedicated to "Christian Origins and the Question ofGod," the first two being The New

Testament and the People ofGod(on the Jewish roots ofChristianity) and Jesus and the

Victory ofGod(on the historical Jesus). The present volume began as a final chapter to thelatterwork. Awork on Paul is slated to follow.

The basic thesis ofthe bookis as follows: the early Christians embraced an understand

ing ofresurrection that was compatible with a particular Jewish view yet also modified that

view. This specific "modified Jewish view" seems to have been embraced byChristians in a

manner that was early and virtually unanimous. Such a development requires historical

explanation, and the most likelyproposal to account forthe development is that these

Christians had been surprised bysomething that they all believed had happened to Jesus,something that caused them to re-think their inherited understanding ofresurrection.

Early portions ofthe book are devoted to distinguishing Jewish views on resurrection

and the afterlife from pagan ones. Though manyofthe ancients believed in some form of

disembodied life after death, the Gentile world did not believe in any sort ofresurrection

that would involve a return to bodily existence. Such a hope did develop within the Jewish

world, however, where some believed that God would someday raise the bodies ofthe dead

to new life. There was diversity ofopinion regarding such a phenomenon (the Sadduceesfamously denying it altogether), but everyone agreed that such a resurrection would consti


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REVIEWS Interpretation 77

S S n

JAMES O. G. D U N N

C H R I S T I A N I T Y

IN THE M A K I N G

VOLUME

"Jesus Rememberedis highly readable and reliably informative on the history

and tendencies ofcritical research on Jesus. .. . Dunn's imposing work

deserves attention beyond an academic readership/'

- PETER STUHLMACHER

"Modern portraits ofthe historical Jesus abound. But here James Dunn

provides a tour ofancient sketches ~~ a gallery of impressions that this

provocative figure left upon his earliest followers,... An indispensable

contribution to an ongoing quest to comprehend the significance ofJesus for the history ofChristianityand for modern civilization."

- MARKALLANPOWELL

"A magnificent achievement.Jesus Rememberedis massivelythorough and

wide-ranging, innovative in its stress on orality, at times provocative, yet also

immensely readable and clear. James Dunn's bookwill undoubtedly shape

Jesus study for the next generation and more. This is a 'must* for all those

engaged in study of Jesus at whateverlevel."

~~ CHRISTOPHER TUCKETT

ISBN 0 8028 3931 2 1038 pages hardcover $55 00


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78 Interpretation JANUARY 2004

resurrection becomes more important and central; (2) the resurrection is understood as a

two-stage event: the messiah is to be raised bodily from the dead (indeed, this has already

happened) as a proleptic guarantee ofa general resurrection that will occur later; (3) resur

rection is no longer understood simply as a resuscitationof

dead bodies but as a dramatictransformation of those bodies into something "transphysicaT; and (4) resurrection lan

guage comes to be appropriated metaphorically for such matters as baptism and holiness

rather than for the national restoration of Israel.

Why would Christians come to believe that God's eschatological timetable involved a

proleptic resurrection of the messiah when such a view was unprecedented in Judaism and

was certainly not required by any usual understanding ofscripture? Wright suggests that

Christians developed this view in response to what they were certain had happened toJesus-they had been taken by surprise by his resurrection but were forced to re-examine

scripture and re-think their (Jewish) understanding ofGod's timetable accordingly. And

where did Paul get his peculiar (and, again, unprecedented) notion that the dead would be

raised with "spiritual bodies," as opposed to "soulish bodies" (1 Cor 15:44)? Wright suggests

that Christians came to such an understanding because of the unanticipated transphysicali-

ty they were certain had characterized the risen body ofJesus.

As a historian, Wright reaches conclusions both modest and daring. The modest con

clusion is that the early Christians believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead in a literal and corporeal (though transphysical) sense. Thus Wright wants to dispense with popular proposals of liberal theology that claim the New Testament authors themselves (espe

cially Paul) merely believed that Jesus had gone to heaven to live with God or continued to

be present in the kerygma of the church. He accomplishes this task admirably, indeed with

what many readers might regard as a bit of overkill.

The more daring conclusion comes with Wright's suggestion that a historian might

conclude on the basis of historical evidence that the early Christians were correct in theirbelief that Jesus had been literally raised from the dead: "The proposal that Jesus was bodily

raised from the dead possesses unrivaled power to explain the historical data at the heart of

early Christianity" (p. 718). Wright allows that there could be numerous other explanations

for Christians believing Jesus had been raised from the dead, but he maintains that none of

these is as convincing as the proposal that the event actually happened. For instance, he dis

misses with a single footnote (p. 709 n. 70) the idea that Jesus might have been placed in

the tomb unconscious and then later recovered. Such a suggestion is implausible: the

Romans were very good at killing people and at making sure they were dead. But can we

bl t hi t i h t Ch i ti th i t t thi k it l ibl


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167. n. t. wright, res. of son of god- review

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