2013 hurtado resurrection-hcal jesus

7/28/2019 2013 Hurtado Resurrection-Hcal Jesus

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Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2 DOI 10.1163/17455197-01101003

Journalfor the Study of the Historical Jesus 11 (2013) 3552 br.com/jshj

Resurrection-Faith and the Historical Jesus

Larry W. HurtadoUnversty o Ednburgh, UK

[email protected]

Abstract

It s cear that a remarkabe Jesus-devoton, n whch Jesus was accorded unprec-

edented knds o reverence, was centra n eary Chrstan ath rom ts earest

extant expressons, and represents a sgnicant escaaton rom the knds o rever-

ence that oowers expressed durng Jesus earthy mnstry. Ths devoton seems

to have been prompted by the convcton that God had rased Jesus rom death

and gven hm heaveny gory. The mpact o Jesus own actvtes was certany

a actor, but experences o the rsen Jesus were cruca n generatng ths bee.

Moreover, Jesus resurrecton meant a resoundng vndcaton o the earthy Jesus.Bee n Jesus persona resurrecton, thus, contrbuted strongy to nterest n Jesus

own actvtes and teachng, the ormaton and crcuaton o Jesus-tradton, and

the composton o narratve accounts o hs career. In short, the earest quest or

the hstorca Jesus was prompted by the convcton that he had been resurrected.

Keywords

devotona practces; hstorca Jesus; mraces; resurrecton

I

A remarkabe devoton to Jesus, nvovng both chrstoogca camsand a consteaton o devotona practces, qucky characterzed ear-est Chrstanty soon ater Jesus crucixon. More specicay, thsJesus-devoton emerged consequent upon, and n connecton wth, theastoundng convcton that God had rased Jesus rom death and exatedhm to heaveny gory. I have contended that ths Jesus-devoton appearedqucky and very eary, more ke a vocanc erupton than an ncrementa


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L.W. Hurtado / Journal or the Study o the Hstorcal Jesus 11 (2013) 3552

process.1 Ths devoton to Jesus nvoved convctons about hm unqueysharng n Gods gory, as the deinng igure by whom beevers dentied

themseves, as the chosen vehce o dvne redempton, and (most remark-aby as the one whom God has exated and desgnated as rghtuy andprogrammatcay ncuded n the cutc devoton to be oered to God.These convctons were nked wth a arger pattern o devotona practceas we. In a number o prevous pubcatons I have dscussed the key prac-tces that comprsed a consteaton or pattern o devoton n whch Jesushed a centra pace and or whch we have nether precedent nor ana-ogy n Jewsh tradton o the tme.2 I have aso expored the queston ohow ths devotona pattern compares wth the reverence that appears tohave been accorded to Jesus durng hs mnstry.3 Promnent n the Jesus-devoton that we see n earest texts s an emphass on Jesus resurrecton.In ths essay, I ocus on the presentaton o Jesus resurrecton n the NewTestament wrtngs, consderng hstorca and theoogca connectonswth the hstorca igure o Jesus o Nazareth.

II

Let us commence wth some genera observatons about how Jesus resur-recton s portrayed n the NT texts. Unavodaby, these observatons wnvove some contested ssues, but the avaabe space here requres me tobe bre n engagng such dsagreements.4

1) E.g., L.W. Hurtado,How on Earth dd Jesus Become a God? Hstorcal Questons about

Earlest Devoton to Jesus (Grand Rapds, MI: Eerdmans, , pp. -, esp. -.

2) Intay, n L.W. Hurtado, One God, One Lord: Early Chrstan Devoton and AncentJewsh Monothesm (Phadepha: Fortress Press, 9; nd edn, Ednburgh and London:

T&T Cark, 99, pp. 99-; thereater, e.g., The Bntaran Shape o Eary Chrstan

Worshp, n Carey C. Newman, James R. Dava and Gadys S. Lews (eds., The Jewsh

Roots o Chrstologcal Monothesm (Leden: Br, 999, pp. 7-, whch appears

aso n L.W. Hurtado, At the Orgns o Chrstan Worshp (Carse: Paternoster, 999,

pp. -97.

3) L.W. Hurtado, Homage to the Hstorca Jesus and Eary Chrstan Devoton, JSHJ

(, pp. -, reprnted wth mnor changes n Hurtado, How on Earth dd Jesus

Become a God?, pp. -.

4) There s an enormous body o schoary terature on Jesus resurrecton, and I can-

not pretend to be amar wth t a. The most recent (and perhaps argest book-ength

pubcaton s N.T. Wrght, The Resurrecton o the Son o God (London: SPCK, .


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L.W. Hurtado / Journal or the Study o the Hstorcal Jesus 11 (2013) 3552 7

We begn by notng that, as airmed n the New Testament wrtngs(whch ncude the earest extant Chrstan texts, the resurrecton o Jesus

comprses both the major ntersecton o the earthy hstorca Jesus andthe dvney-exated Jesus o eary Chrstan devoton, and aso the majorturnng-pont n the way he eatured n the regous e o hs oowersthereater. By a accounts, the convcton that Jesus has been rased romdeath and gven gory was the nta stmuus and ncepton o the aston-shng cams and devotona practces that dentied and dstngushedthe earest Chrstan crces thereater. What oowed was a devotonapattern n whch Jesus o Nazareth was thematc and centra n ways thatsurpassed both the reverence gven by hs oowers durng hs mnstry andaso the types o reverence gven to other igures n Jewsh tradton o thetme.5 Indeed, n some NT texts Chrstans are dentied smpy as thosewho ca upon/nvoke [] Jesus ( Cor. .; Acts 9., , reflectnghow wdespread ths practce was.6

Moreover, athough the Gospe narratves portray Jesus as actng wthdvne authorzaton and accompaned by dvne/mracuous power, e.g.,n castng out demons, heang, and other mraces (e.g., Lk. .-, theresurrecton s a uy dstngushabe event. In the Gospe accounts, Jesus s

very much the actve and cooperatng vehce through whom Gods powers dspayed, and he s the actve agent n these narratves. Through Jesuswords and actons dvne power works mraces. Jesus touches the sckand pronounces them heaed, commands demons to depart, rebukes thewnd and waves, and summons the dead back to e. Jesus words andactons generate nterest n hm and crtcsm/opposton aganst hm, the

JSHJ . ( eatures crtca engagement wth Wrghts book by severa schoars.Among earer studes by NT schoars, one o the best s by Pheme Perkns,Resurrecton:

New Testament Wtness and Contemporary Relecton (London: Georey Chapman,

9. Among studes o a more reflectve-theoogca orentaton, see Peter Carney,

The Structure o Resurrecton Bele(Oxord: Oxord Unversty Press, 97. Other pub-

catons are cted n notes esewhere n ths essay.

5) For comparson wth Jewsh reverence o other igures, see esp. Hurtado, One God,

One Lord,passm.

6) In the LXX and NT (especay mdde voce s used many n sentences

nvovng nvokng/worshppng a dety: e.g., Gen. .; Deut. .7; .9; Sam. .7;

Sam. ., 7; Kgs .-7; Kgs .; Chron. .; Ps. .; 9. (MT 99.; . (MT

.; Jud. .; .; Acts .; 7.9; .; Tm. .; Pet. .7. I return to ths practce

ater n ths essay.


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unavodaby centra queston beng whether he s the vad spokesman andvehce o dvne purposes.

It s sgnicant, thereore, that, athough there are statements aboutJesus rsng rom the dead (actve orms o , n the overwhemngmajorty o NT nstances Jesus s reerred to as rased (passve orms o, ether expcty or mpcty by the act o God, Jesus the recp-ent and beneicary o Gods power. Moreover, the statements commonyregarded as reflectng earest procamaton tend to present Jesus as rasedby God (e.g., Rom. .-; .9-. In the Gospe narratves peope arerecpents o and respond to Jesus actons, but n the eary procamatono Jesus resurrecton he s usuay the object o dvne acton. Jesus res-urrecton certany generated chrstoogca cams concernng hm and aremarkabe devoton to hm, but we must note that NT dscourse about thecause and agency eectng Jesus resurrecton s aso rather equay theo-ogca and even theo-centrc. To underscore ths pont, I note that the NTtexts do not typcay ascrbe Jesus resurrecton to some nherent nvnc-bty to death, or to Jesus own power. Instead, Gods power s exercsedupon the truy-dead-and-hepess Jesus. As Gerad OCons put t, God wasthe resurrector, Chrst the resurrectee. I sha return to ths pont ater.

) Raymond Brown reerred to some twenty passages n the NT where God (the Father

rased Jesus (but dd not st them, ncudng a o what are usuay regarded as the ear-

est tradtona ormuae: The Vrgnal Concepton and Bodly Resurrecton o Jesus (New

York: Paust Press, 97, p. 79. I count, however, some orty-eght NT reerences to Jesus

as rased (passve orms o or transtve orms o , n twenty o whch

the acton s expcty ascrbed to God (Acts ., ; .; .; .; .; ., , 7;

Rom. .; .; .9; Cor. .; .; Cor. .; Ga. .; Eph. .; Co. .; Thess. .;

Pet. .. In the remanng ones, though not expcty named, God s qute obvousy

the one by whom Jesus was rased. Mt. .; 7.9, ; .9; .; 7.; ., 7; Mk .;.; Lk. 9.; .; Jn .; .; Rom. ., ; .9; 7.; .; ., -, -7, ; Cor.

.; Tm. .. By contrast, I count seven NT reerences to Jesus as rsng (ntranstve

orms o rom the dead. Mk .; 9.9, ; .; Acts .; Thess. ..

) There are statements n the Gospe o John where Jesus appears to be presented

expcty as the agent o hs own resurrecton (.9; .7-, and n . Jesus s hmse

the resurrecton and the e. But, agan, readng these statements n context t s cear

that Jesus (the Son s understood to have such resurrecton-power by the w and

gt o God (the Father, as, e.g., n .-, -9. C. aso some statements n second-

century texts, e.g., Ignatus (Smyrn. ., who nssts Jesus truy rased hmse; and

Ep. Rheg. .7- (cted aso by Brown, Vrgnal Concepton, p. .

) Gerad OCons, The Resurrecton o Jesus Chrst(London: Darton, Longman & Todd;

Vaey Forge, PA: Judson Press, 97, p. 9. In Cor. .-, c. Chrst ded (,


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A second observaton s that Jesus resurrecton s presented as a unqueevent, categorcay dstngushed even rom other mracuous demon-

stratons o dvne power. Ths ncudes partcuary the accounts o deadpeope beng mracuousy restored to e, e.g., Lazarus (Jn .-, Jarusdaughter (Mk .-, -, and the wdow o Nans son (Lk. 7.-7. Incontrast to the igures n such narratves, Jesus s not pctured as broughtbackto morta e, but as catapulted orwardnto eschatologcale, becom-ng thereby the irst to experence ths new eschatoogca embodment.The cam o the wtnesses n the NT s not that Jesus has been restored tothem as he was beore but that he has been rased to new and goried e.To reterate a dstncton oten made, the other stores portray mracuousresusctatons, whereas Jesus was resurrected.1 So, as presented n the NTtexts, Jesus resurrecton s wthout true precedent. It s not another exam-pe n a seres o essentay smar events aready known, but nstead anovum. It s not smpy another mrace, or even a grander mrace, butnstead su geners, an exercse o dvne power and purpose that comprsesa unque manestaton o eschatoogca reaty.11 More typcay, bbcamraces nvove restorng and puttng thngs back nto an ordered stateas deined by ths word (e.g., heangs, exorcsms, camng the wnd and

sea. By contrast, Jesus resurrecton s portrayed as nvovng hs unque

actve verb, he was bured (, by others, passve verb, and he was rased

(, passve verb ndcatng Gods acton here. Other ustratve statements

ncude Cor. .; .; Cor. .; Rom. .-; .; .; .9; Ga. .; Acts .-.

Even n the statement, Jesus ded and rose agan ( Thess. ., both the mmedate

and arger contexts make t cear that Jesus rose through Gods resurrecton-power

( Thess. .b; ..

1) Brown kewse proposes a smar dstncton n, Vrgnal Concepton, p. 7. Eventhough the same Greek word ( s used n the stores o Lazarus and the others

(e.g., Mt. .; Jn ., 9, 7, t s cear that the NT makes a sharp dstncton between

these mraces and Jesus resurrecton. As Perkns put t, Thus, the dscpes mmedate

experence o [Jesus] resurrecton s not that o a mghty act o God n the course o

hstory but o the dawn o the new age (Resurrecton, p. 9.

11) C. the anayss o NT reerences to Jesus resurrecton and Jewsh tradtons o resur-

recton o key igures: Kaus Berger, De Auerstehung des Propheten und de Erhhung

des Menschensohn: Tradtonsgeschchtlche Untersuchungen zur Deutung des Geschckes

Jesu n rhchrstlchen Texten (SUNT, ; Gttngen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 97.

Berger shows that resurrecton was a vey hope n the tme. He does not, however,

address the pont I make here about the derence between Jesus resurrecton and the

Gospe mraces o resusctaton.


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transormaton rom morta/ths-word e nto the new mode o exstenceo the word to come.12

Nevertheess, thrdy, n the NT Jesus resurrecton s not a reaksh event,a marve unconnected to anythng ese n Gods actons and pan. Instead,the rasng o Jesus s nked wth the eschatoogca resurrecton airmedas the hope o the eect, servng both as the paradgm and the guaranteeo that hope (e.g., Cor. .-, 9; Jn .-. The NT reflects convctonsthat God has power to rase the dead and that God w do so, n keepngwth Jewsh eschatoogca hopes o the Second Tempe perod (e.g., Dan..; Macc. 7.9; Ezra .; Mk .-7.13 The second o the EghteenBenedctons (Shemoneh Esreh expresses ths ath: Bessed are you,O Lord who gves e to the dead.14 So, n one sense, Jesus resurrectonmust be seen n the context o ths vew o Gods power and purposes.

On the other hand, athough many Jews expected God to rase the dead(or rghteous dead coectvey n the ast day, there s no trace o any

12) Pau airms ths n a seres o contrasts between the quates o the resurrecton

body and the morta body: pershabe/mpershabe, dshonor/gory, weakness/power,

soush/sprtua ( Cor. .-. In the ast par o contrastng terms, seems to

derve rom the characterzaton o Adam as a vng sou ( , and thus desg-

nates (boogca e o ths creaton. The adjectve sprtua ( here must

derve rom the Hoy Sprt as the agency o resurrecton (e.g., Rom. .; ., and so

essentay desgnates the resurrecton body as empowered and anmated by the Sprt.

13) O course, not a Jews hed to such hopes, partcuary the Sadducees (e.g., Mk ./

Mt. ./Lk. .7; Acts .. But the LXX transaton o Isa. .9, whch makes more

expct the hope o the dead beng rased, surey reflects a wdescae acceptance o ths

dea: (c. the MT: your dead

sha ve, my corpses sha rse. See the dscusson o the varous ancent deas o post-

mortem optons n Mary Beard, John North and Smon Prce,Relgons o Rome, Volume 1:A Hstory (Cambrdge: Cambrdge Unversty Press, 99, pp. -9, who note ceary

that the Jewsh and Chrstan deas o body resurrecton are not reay paraeed n

pagan cuts o the day.

14) Athough codied ater, the Eghteen Benedctons key preserve eatures o Jewsh

pety o the tme o Jesus and the earest Chrstan deveopments. We probaby have

reflectons o the vew o God reflected n ths Benedcton n NT passages such as Rom.

.7 and Cor. .9, as noted by Gerhard Deng, The Sgnicance o the Resurrecton o

Jesus or Fath n Jesus Chrst, n C.F.D. Moue (ed., The Sgnficance o the Resurrecton

or Fath n Jesus Chrst(London: SCM, 9, pp. 7- (77-. The Paestnan orm

o the Eghteen Benedctons (ess deveoped than the Babyonan verson s gven by

Gusta Daman,De Worte Jesu (Lepzg: Hnrch, 9, pp. 99-, the Babyonan ver-

son, pp. -.


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expectaton that God woud snge out one ndvdua or ths eschatoog-ca resurrecton apart rom, and as the pattern or, the rest. So, athough

Jesus resurrecton partay reflects Jewsh hopes and deas o the tme,t aso represents a sgnicant modicaton or mutaton. The rsen Jesuss presented, not smpy as one among many to be rased, or even smpyas the prveged irst one (though he s that. He s accamed as the onewhom God has made the paradgm and pathinder or the eect, hs resur-recton the mode and bass or ther uture hopes. Indeed, the resurrectonhope espoused n the NT has been specicay (reshaped by the under-standng o Jesus resurrecton (e.g., Ph. .-; Cor. .9.15 Ths meansthat the NT presents Jesus resurrecton as more than a partcuar nstanceo the genera hope or the eschatoogca resurrecton o the dead. Jesusresurrecton coners upon hm, and sgnas that he hods, a unque sgni-cance n Gods eschatoogca programme o redempton.

So, ourthy, we must note that n the NT Jesus resurrecton aso typ-cay nvoves hs exataton and desgnaton as the one who hods a unquestatus, both n reatonshp to the eect and to God. One o the earest con-essona ormuae (Rom. .- portrays Jesus resurrecton as nvovnghs desgnaton as the Son o God.16 Acts .- decares that God rased

[] Jesus and exated hm to hs rght hand, thereby appontnghm Lord and Messah. Another text that s wdey thought to preserve aneary Chrstan hymn reers to Gods supreme exataton o Jesus and con-erra upon hm o the name that s above every name, or the purpose oJesus recevng unversa accamaton as Kyros (Ph. .9-. Ths unver-sa accamaton o the exated/resurrected Jesus was practced corporateyaready n the eary Chrstan worshp settng, as reflected n Rom. .9-,whch expcty reers to the conesson o the resurrected Lord Jesus

(v. 9. The contextua appropraton o the OT expresson whch connotesworshp, ca upon [] the Lord (vv. -, ceary ndcates that

15) Note aso Ignatus (Trallans 9., who ater airmng that God rased Jesus rom

the dead, then decares, In the same way hs Father w kewse aso rase up n Chrst

Jesus us who beeve n hm.

16) Desgnated the Son o God transates , the deinte artce

here, as esewhere n Pau, sgnang Jesus unque status as the Son o God par excel-

lence. Other texts suggest that Jesus dvne sonshp hed a speca sgnicance or Pau.

E.g., n Ga. ., Pau reers to Gods reveaton o hs Son to/n hm, thereby encap-

suatng the cogntve orce and content o the experence. For urther dscusson, see

Larry W. Hurtado, Son o God, nDctonary o Paul and Hs Letters, ed. G.F. Hawthorne

and R.P. Martn (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsty Press, 99, pp. 9-9.


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ths conesson o Jesus exated status was a turgca acton that carredths meanng.1

III

Wth these ew observatons as a bass, I turn now to address the mantask o ths essay, whch s to consder Jesus resurrecton as a case studyor exporng how the ntense Jesus-devoton o earest Chrstan crces sreated to, and aso a sgnicant new deveopment beyond, the mnstry o

the hstorca Jesus.

Jesus Resurrecton and Hs Mnstry

The irst pont to note s that the NT cam s that t was Jesus o Nazarethn partcuar who was resurrected. The resurrecton o anyone woud havedone adequatey to conirm eschatoogca hopes or a resurrecton o theeect. It s mportant, thereore, that the irm and consstent cam o theearest wtnesses s that Jesus has been rased. Ths means that the event

s very much, and rom the outset, mbued wth chrstoogca meanng. Inthe eary testmony to the event, by sngng out Jesus or resurrecton Godhas made hm the centra igure n the dvne redemptve pan.

Butmanns amous epgram, that n the eary post-Easter kerygma Theprocamer became the procamed, s true but by no means the whoetruth.1 As I have nssted n prevous pubcatons, one o the key actorsshapng earest Chrstan devoton was the mpact o the actvtes o Jesushmse and the eects upon hs contemporares.1 There s more phenom-

enoogca contnuty between Jesus mnstry and resurrecton-ath thanButmann granted.2 Athough Jesus message was ocused on the kngdom

1) W. Krchschger, ,EDNT: -9; K.L. Schmdt, , TDNT: 9-

; and, or a u dscusson o NT data, C.J. Davs, The Name and Way o the Lord

(JSNTSup, 9; Sheied: JSOT Press, 99.

1) Rudo Butmann, Theology o the New Testament(ET; New York: Chares Scrbners

Sons, 9, p. .

1) See esp. L.W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Chrst: Devoton to Jesus n Earlest Chrstanty

(Grand Rapds, MI: Eerdmans, , pp. -.2) Butmanns whoe (somewhat convouted treatment o the earest church

(Theology, ch. , pp. - s trapped wthn the procrustean ramework nherted rom


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o God, t s cear that very qucky wthn the perod o hs own actvtyhe became the ssue on whch peope unavodaby had to decde. It was

mpossbe to separate competey the queston o hs vadty rom thequeston o the vadty o hs own message. Hs teachng and other actonswere suicenty noteworthy and even controversa that peope wererequred to judge whether he was or was not the vad spokesman or God,whether hs actons represented the dvne agenda to whch assent mustbe gven.

In a prevous dscusson, I have emphaszed the poarzng eect oJesus actvtes, some ndvduas drawn to oow hm and others who setthemseves aganst hm.21 In the crce o those agned wth Jesus, he wasunquestonaby the eader (the Master and the others hs oowers, hsword authortatve or them, and some o them even wng to gve up thervehoods to jon hs tnerant mnstry. It s reasonaby cear that hs o-owers (and wder crces o the Jewsh popuace regarded hm as bear-ng prophetc authorty, at the very east comparabe to one o the bbcaprophets.22 He was or hs oowers not smpy one nsprng, eoquentteacher, prophet and hoy man among others. Instead, even wthn thetme o hs own mnstry, Jesus oowers ceary deined themseves as a

crce gathered around hm, and regarded hm as the eschatoogca personn whom Gods kngdom was heraded and sgnaed.

hs teacher Whem Bousset. Ths ncudes the dubousy strct dstncton between

Paestnan and Heenstc churches, the noton that Paestnan churches conessed

Jesus as the heaveny Son o Man (Butmann ncorrecty assumng a we-deined

Jewsh expectaton o ths sort, whch has now qute ceary been dscredted, and

the ace vew that Paus own vews were shaped whoy by a Heenstc Chrstanpety. Over thrty years ago, I noted that these cruca oundatons o Boussets cas-

sc,Kyros Chrstos. Geschchte des Chrstusglaubens von den Anngen des Chrstentums

bs Irenaeus (FRLANT, NF; Gttngen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 9, the key work

on whch Butmann depended, had coapsed: Larry W. Hurtado, New Testament

Chrstoogy: A Crtque o Boussets Influence, TS (979, pp. -7; German verson:

Larry W. Hurtado, Forschungen zur neutestamentchen Chrstooge set Bousset:

Forschungsrchtungen und bedeutende Betrge, Theologsche Betrge (9,

pp. -7. C. my own dscusson o Judean Jewsh Chrstanty, n Lord Jesus Chrst,

pp. -.

21) Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, esp. pp. -9.22) Varous statements n the Gospes are usuay taken as reflectng ths vew o Jesus:

e.g., Mt. .; ., ; Mk .; Lk. 7., 9; .; .9; Jn .9; .; 7.; Acts .-.


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Indeed, t seems to me entrey key that durng the tme o hs ownactvtes at east some o hs oowers entertaned the hope and expecta-

ton that Jesus woud be reveaed and recognzed as (roya messah. Thepognant statement n the Lukan Emmaus story s a dramatzed but (I pro-pose an authentc reflecton o ths: We had hoped that he was the one toredeem Israe (Lk. .. Moreover, ths vew o Jesus sgnicance seemsto be conirmed by the actons o Jesus enemes. As Ns Dah argued dec-ades ago, Jesus crucixon must have been based on the charge that he wasa camant to (messanc kngshp.23 It s sgnicant that Jesus aone, andnone o those most cosey nked to hm, was sezed and crucied. Ceary,the authortes (both tempe eadershp and Roman governor regardedhm n partcuar as the matter to be deat wth decsvey, apparentybeevng that hs executon woud be suicent to dsspate hs oowng.So, the manner o hs executon suggests that Jesus opponents were con-vnced that he was a roya-messanc camant (or was ntendng to makesuch a cam. They were, thus, ether massvey and curousy wrong (toput t mdy, or (as I thnk more key were reasonaby we normed othe enthusasm and hgh expectatons crcuatng among Jesus oowers.24

To echo Dahs pont, or eary beevers the resurrecton o the cruc-

ied Jesus woud have connoted a dvne reversa o the puntve judgementaganst hm ssued by the regous and potca authortes. So, therewere no thoughts o hm beng (or camng to be messah, the mess-anc dea payed no roe n hs executon, t s hard to see how hs resurrec-ton woud have generated the messanc cam. Yet a ndcatons are thatrom the outset n the post-Easter kerygma ths cam was centra.25 Themost economca and reasonabe expanaton or ths s that Jesus resur-recton was mmedatey seen by hs oowers as the decsve conirmaton

and vndcaton o a messanc hope that had been chershed by Jesus o-owers aready durng hs mnstry. Granted, there s good reason to thnk

23) Ns A. Dah, The Crucied Messah, n hsJesus the Chrst: The Hstorcal Orgns

o Chrstologcal Doctrne (ed. D. H. Jue; Mnneapos: Fortress, 99, pp. 7-7. The

essay appeared earer n Dahs The Crucfied Messah and Other Essays (Mnneapos:

Augsburg, 97, pp. -.

24) I have crtczed proposas that Jesus executon was smpy a msguded and hasty

poce acton nLord Jesus Chrst, pp. 7-. Butmanns statement, Jesus ca to dec-

son mpes a chrstoogy (Theology, p. s hardy adequate to account or Jesusbeng crucied, or or the exposon o Jesus-devoton n the post-Easter perod.

25) See, e.g., Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, pp. 9-, 7-7.


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that Jesus was cautous about any such a cam made openy, and may havedscouraged open tak about t among hs oowers, at east unt hs ina,

ateu trp to Jerusaem.26 But the most key reason that Jesus woud haveet any such cauton and concern about hs oowers openy accamnghm as messah s that they were a too ready to do so.2

In short, or hs oowers, Jesus resurrecton had the eect o vadat-ng hm poweruy, drawng a hs own actvtes under the mante oths unquey airmng act o God. In other words, as we as sgnynghs newy exated status, Jesus resurrecton aso had a strong retro-actveeect, vndcatng Jesus earthy mnstry and teachng, and gvng to hmand hs actvtes a strong contnung sgnicance or hs oowers. Ths sreflected n the cear ndcatons that Jesus sayngs and stores o hs actv-tes were transmtted rom an eary pont as Chrstan tradton, and evenseem to have acqured a st greater sgnicance or hs oowers than theymay have hed durng hs own morta e. The sayngs-coecton com-mony reerred to as Q s one mportant reflecton o ths. The sayngs thatmake up the Q-matera are wdey accepted as stemmng rom very earycrces o beevers, probaby based n Roman Judea, and they comprse asubstanta body o matera wth strong cams o dervng rom Jesus own

mnstry.2

26) E.g., ths reserve s reflected n Mk .7-; Mt. :; Lk. 9.-. That t s echoed

n a the Synoptcs suggests that t was we estabshed n the tradton, whch n turn

ends weght to t beng authentc. Crag A. Evans has argued, however, that Jesus went

to Jerusaem to stake a messanc cam, whch was rejected by the Tempe eadershp:

Dd Jesus Predct hs Death and Resurrecton? n Staney Porter, Mchae A. Hays and

Davd Tombs (eds.,Resurrecton (Sheied: Sheied Academc Press, 999, pp. 9-9

(-97.2) Mchae F. Brd, Are You the One Who s to Come? The Hstorcal Jesus and the

Messanc Queston (Waco, TX: Bayor Unversty Press, 9, presents a uy argued

case that Jesus both excted messanc expectaton and key saw hmse as Messah.

See esp. pp. 7-7 (hs crtca engagement wth Dahs argument about the tte on

Jesus cross, and pp. -, where he argues rom Jesus executon backwards to key

causes n Jesus own actons.

2) Q s now ncreasngy judged by schoars, however, to have been composed n

Greek (not Aramac, whch means that t stemmed rom peope wth some nterest

n usng the ngua ranca o the irst-century Roman word as the medum n whch to

dssemnate ths coecton o Jesus sayngs (Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, p. 9. For my

own uer dscusson oQ, ncudng engagement wth the work o other schoars on

ths matera, see Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, pp. 7-7.


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Jesus Resurrecton as New Dvne Act

As I noted earer, Jesus resurrecton s predomnanty reerred to as Godsacton, wth Jesus the recpent and beneicary o t. Moreover, ths dvneact nvoved both the remarkabe bestowa o eschatoogca exstenceupon Jesus and aso the unque exataton and goricaton o hm. So,the procamaton o Jesus resurrecton comprses a strong set o chrsto-ogca cams and aso an equay robust cam about God. Moreover, Jesuscentra mportance n earest Chrstan dscourse and devotona practces predcated on and ramed by the convcton that God has rased andexated hm, and now requres the accamaton o Jesus exated status.That s, the chrstoogca content o earest resurrecton dscourse s nkedndssouby to Gods actons. Jesus does not become a second dety, but hasbeen desgnated by God spectacuary as the Messah, the Lord whom acreaton shoud now revere, and the dvne Son who bears unquey theavor o, and ntmacy wth, the one God.2 Lkewse, the strkng way thatJesus eatures n earest Chrstan devotona practce s justied wth re-erence to Gods acton. Ths emphass that Jesus exceptona status andsgnicance rests on Gods own acton and w s ndcated, e.g., n Ph.

.9-, where Gods exataton o Jesus s to ssue n unversa accamatono hm, whch n turn serves the gory o God the Father. In keepng wththe more poemca tone o the Gospe o John, Jn .- decares that Godnow ntends that a shoud honor the Son just as they honor the Father,and the Evangest nssts that Whoever does not honor the Son does nothonor the Father who sent hm. Equatng the honor to be gven to Jesuswth the honor due to God eectvey makes Jesus co-recpent o worshp,but ths s emphatcay so by Gods own iat. In short, Jesus exceptona sg-

nicance s rather consstenty expressed wth reerence to God and Godsactons and w.3

2) Paus reerences to Jesus dvne sonshp dd not stem rom Heenstc (sem-

pagan nfluences o dvne heroes and dem-gods, and dd not uncton prmary to

express Jesus dvne nature. Instead, they are ceary nfluenced by bbca notons o

dvne sonshp (whch does not nvove dvnzaton, and express Jesus unque sgni-

cance, and hs avour and reatonshp wth God. See Hurtado, Son o God; dem, Jesus

Dvne Sonshp n Paus Epste to the Romans, n Sven K. Soderund and N.T. Wrght

(eds.,Romans and the People o God(Grand Rapds, MI: Eerdmans, 999, pp. 7-.3) As an asde here, ths works aganst deas that Jesus death and resurrecton

draw upon putatve myths o dyng-rsng gods. Asde rom the dicuty n indng a


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So, athough the mpact o Jesus mnstry s an mportant actor, theprocamaton o Jesus resurrecton aso nvoves Gods urther, new acton.

Ths means that Jesus acqures a status and sgnicance that surpasses,and cannot be accounted or by, hs own earthy actvtes. The Jesus-devoton o eary Chrstan crces s not adequatey expaned by, and ddnot arse smpy rom, hs teachng or even hs reported mraces. It was notthe predctabe or nevtabe outcome o hs mnstry. Even Jesus ore-saw and predcted hs own dvne vndcaton, and even ths vndcatonnvoved hs own resurrecton, ths woud not have generated the specicconvcton that he has been snged out or resurrecton now, apart romthe eect. Moreover, dvne vndcaton o hm as prophet, even as roya-messah, woud not automatcay have generated the cams that he hasbeen exated to a unque heaveny status, gven to share the dvne nameand gory, and that cutc devoton to God must now ncorporate hm as we.

To be sure, there are sayngs ascrbed to Jesus n the Gospes that pre-sent hm as oreseeng both hs own death (by executon and aso hsresurrecton (Mk ./Mt. ./Lk. 9.; Mk 9./Mt. 7.-; Mk .-/Mt. .-9/Lk. .-; Mk 9.9-/Mt. 7.9; Mk ./Mt. .. These say-ngs a seem to project Jesus resurrecton as an event on ts own, .e., not

smpy as hm takng part n the ina resurrecton o the eect. So, do wehave n these sayngs some ndcaton that Jesus may have contrbuted toexpectatons that he woud be resurrected?

On the one hand, t s to my mnd entrey pausbe that at somepont Jesus oresaw hs death rom opponents. I so, t s equay pausbe(ndeed, more so that he aso trusted that God woud vndcate hm, andwoud do so by resurrecton.31 On the other hand, t woud be much moreunusua or Jesus to have oreseen hs resurrecton happenng separatey

rom the genera resurrecton o the eect. Moreover, the Gospe sayngs

genune exampe o a dyng-rsng god (the aeged paraes are actuay oten nter-

preted, by ancents and moderns, through the ens o Chrstan cams about Jesus, the

earest resurrecton-ath does not attrbute Jesus resurrecton to hs own dvnty but

to the act o God (the Father. In dscussng these aeged paraes, Jan N. Bremmer has

noted that more recent schoars have reversed the pattern, camng that the pagan

cuts adapted themseves to Chrstanty, ctng as exampes the Atts cut and Mthras:

The Rse and Fall o the Aterle (London and New York: Routedge, , pp. -,

esp. 7-.

31) Ths sort o trust/hope n resurrecton s ascrbed to Jewsh martyrs (e.g., Macc.7.9, and certany a more genera conidence n dvne vndcaton s aso typca o the

Psams (e.g., Pss. ; .


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n queston a obvousy serve the devotona purposes o the Evangestsand the eary church more generay n presentng Jesus as oreseeng hs

death and resurrecton, and so strdng toward hs death conidenty. So,t s understandabe that schoars oten surmse that the sayngs etherhave been created (perhaps by the Evangests or that authentc sayngs nwhch Jesus expressed conidence n dvne vndcaton have been adjustedto express a more specic predcton o hs resurrecton.32

In any case, the consstent emphass n a the passages s that Jesus ds-cpes dd not understand Jesus to be predctng hs own persona resurrec-ton (e.g., Mk 9.. That s, whatever Jesus may have sad about the matter,there s scant ndcaton that hs dscpes were expectng what they exper-enced n ther encounters wth the rsen Jesus (e.g., Lk. .9-. So, we havette bass or seeng Jesus teachng as drecty contrbutng to the beethat he had been resurrected.

To underscore the pont, the resurrecton-ath attested n the NT reflectsthe convcton that God has acted n a nove way that gves a new drec-ton to hstory and redeinng Jesus aso n a remarkaby more exated way.However centra Jesus was n eary Chrstan ath, that centraty was notsmpy based on what Jesus dd and sad, but was aso heavy based on

what God was beeved to have done. I reterate an emphass rom earer nths essay: eary Jesus-devoton was prooundytheo-ogca as we as chrs-toogca n content. It nvoved cams about God, about dvne actons andpurposes, as we as cams about Jesus sgnicance.

New Relgous Experence

So, n addton to the mpact o Jesus hmse (and tradton about hm

upon hs oowers, we aso have to thnk o somethng addtona, and asopoweru n ts mpact. We must post somethng suicent to account orthe strong specic convctons that God has rased Jesus rom death to neweschatoogca exstence, that God has exated Jesus to share n dvne gory,

32) E.g., among recent commentares on Mark, see Adea Yarbro Cons, Mark:

A Commentary (Hermenea; Mnneapos: Fortress, 7, who judges Mk . (and by

extenson the other sayngs as key a Markan composton (p. . C. the more

hestant vew o Robert H. Sten, Mark (Grand Rapds, MI: Baker Academc, ,

p. , that Mk . s dependent on tradton, and goes back to an authentc sayng oJesus, grantng, nevertheess, that the actua events probaby shaped the subsequent

reteng o the predcton(s.


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that Jesus name now bears dvne authorty and power, and that Jesus snow the Lord to whom a must oer accamaton. These convctons cannot

be traced back convncngy to the teachng o the earthy Jesus aone. Theyare, at the east, radca escaatons and extensons beyond the mpct andexpct cams that most schoars woud judge can be attrbuted to Jesus.

In severa pubcatons over the ast twenty years or more, I have arguedthat these convctons were aso prompted and decsvey shaped by pow-eru regous experences that struck the nta recpents wth reveatoryorce.33 The resurrecton o Jesus s a case-study n ths phenomenon oexperences generatng nnovatve regous convctons. So, et us consderwhat earest normaton we have about the experences that generatedthe cam that he had been resurrected.

The irst and most obvous thng to note s that these experences areportrayed as encounters wth Jesus hmse, the same igure who had beencrucied and bured (e.g., Cor. .-. That s, there s a strong emphasson a persona contnuty between the hstorca igure naed to a cross andthen bured, and the igure encountered n these experences. Contrary toany dea that reports o these appearances o Jesus shoud be understoodas dramatc ways o sayng that Jesus contnued to be meanngu or hs

oowers even though he was dead, that s notwhat the reports o theseexperences assert.34 Instead, they rather emphatcay cam to be reportso rea encounters wth Jesus, who robusty engages recpents o theseexperences (whatever we make o these experences.35 Accordng to thereports o these experences, the cogntve content was not smpy that therecpents were consoed, or et orgven cathartcay o some sort o gut-compex or havng abandoned Jesus, or et encouraged to contnue Jesuscause though he was dead. Instead, the man cogntve content concerns

Jesus, not hs oowers, the reports postng that somethng astoundnghappened to Jesus, not smpy that somethng happened n the menta eo hs oowers.

33) I have sought to deveop ths proposa by drawng upon NT texts and aso compara-

tve data rom other major regous nnovatons. See esp. Larry W. Hurtado, Regous

Experence and Regous Innovaton n the New Testament, Journal o Relgon

(, pp. -, reprnted n Hurtado, How on Earth Dd Jesus Become a God?

pp. 79-. See aso Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, pp. -7.

34) Such a vew mght we be a preerred by some Chrstans today or engagng the

resurrecton cam, but we must avod mportng modern vews nto the ancent texts.

35) E.g., J.E. Asup, The Post-Resurrecton Appearance Stores o the Gospel-Tradton

(Stuttgart: Cawer Verag, 97.


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Moreover, unke the varous knds o thngs reported by grevng rea-tves and rends, the reports o resurrecton experences present sgnicant

derences. These do not portray sghtng or vstatons o the dead Jesus,but encounters wth the resurrectedJesus. That s, these are not experencesthat smpy aow grevng dscpes to mantan or a whe attenuated con-tact wth ther beoved master though he was dead. He s not portrayed ascommuncatng wth them rom the ream o the dead and as a dead per-son, but nstead as conrontng oowers n a new and more poweru modeo exstence and a more august status, devered rom death, dvney vnd-cated and goried. Aso, the experences seem to have nvoved a sense onew commssonng o the recpents by the rsen Jesus and/or God. Theyare convnced by ther experences that God has goried Jesus excepton-ay, and that they are now requred to procam ths.

Pau reers to hs own experence as havng strong reveatory orce,sayng that God reveaed hs son to/n me (Ga. .-. It was, n otherwords, a chrstophany, n whch Jesus was reveaed to Pau as havng dvneapprova and exated status. In hs case ths woud certany have been areveaton, or Pau had been orceuy opposng the eary Jewsh church,and aso must have regarded Jesus as totay unworthy o any reverence

(to say the east.36 But even or Jesus own oowers, the cogntve eectso ther encounters wth the rsen Jesus were key jotng and n to somedegree dsruptve to ther prevous bees.3 Even or hs oowers, theseexperences escaated ther prevous convctons about Jesus to a whoynew eve.

Nevertheess, I repeat or emphass that the Jesus whom they exper-enced as poweruy ave, exated to heaveny status, sharng dvne gory,and now desgnated the regnant Lord to whom a thngs shoud now gve

obesance, was the same igure whom they had oowed n Gaee. He wasthe very man who had been crucied. Ths was Jesus, the Jewsh mae, romGaee, rom an artsans amy, cosey connected wth John the Baptzer,who had gone orth procamng the nearness o the kngdom o God. The

36) I share the vew that Paus ntrcate dscusson n Ga. .-, n whch he appes

the statement cursed be everyone who s hanged upon a tree (Deut. . to Jesus, may

reflect somethng o hs vew o Jesus pror to the reveaton that turned around hs e.

In Ga. Pau presents Jesus cursed death as redemptve, but n hs days as persecutor

o Jewsh beevers he key vewed Jesus as cursed by God.3) My pont here does not requre assent to what earest Chrstans made o ther

experences. I ony stress here what the experences meant to them.


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rsen Jesus was, or them, wonderuy taken to a new regster, but was asoirmy the hstorcay condtoned person who had been executed and

entombed.3 In ther experences, they encountered the hstorca Jesusn resurrected status and orm, at once eevated beyond a ther prevousexpectatons and yet aso genuney and personay contnuous wth theJesus they had known.3

I have suggested that these experences aso ncuded vsons o Jesusn heaveny gory, perhaps prophetc oraces procamng hs exated sta-tus, and aso sudden new nsghts about the meanng o bbca passagesascrbed to the Hoy Sprt, that struck recpents wth the orce o new rev-eatons.4 That s, I thnk that we must post experences that had cogntveeects greater than smpy that Jesus was ave agan/anew. As astonshngas that woud have been or those who knew that he had been executedony recenty, the earest testmony to Jesus resurrecton ncudes theother remarkabe cams that we have noted. In partcuar, these exper-ences must aso have ncuded eatures that generated very eary the strongconvcton that God now demanded that Jesus shoud be reverenced nways that amounted to a mutaton n what was tradtona Jewsh devo-tona practce. I thnk t s dicut to magne devout Jews o that tme so

ready embracng the cams and devotona practces that characterzedearest Chrstanty uness they et themseves requred by God to do so.

Conclusion

On the one hand, the NT presents Jesus resurrecton as a radca new andurther act o God, and so not specicay part o an account o the earthy

actvty o Jesus (the hstorca Jesus, n ths sense o the word. On theother hand, n a earest testmony, ths new dvne act s emphatcaythe resurrecton oJesus o Nazareth, and so a drect nk wth the Jesus

3) So, e.g., Paus summary o eary tradton n Cor. .-7 ncudes menton o Jesus

bura (v. .

3) It s not easbe here to engage adequatey questons about how Jesus body res-

urrecton may have been understood, what roe the tradton o the empty tomb payed,

etc. My pont here s that the earest testmony asserts that the hstorca igure who

was executed was then resurrected by God and retaned hs persona dentty and nsome manner a body ntegrty (abet a radcay transormed body.

4) Most recenty, Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, pp. 7-7.


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o hstory s asserted. Indeed, one mght even post that Jesus resurrec-ton actuay underscored or eary beevers the mportance o hs earthy

actvtes. As I have noted n a prevous dscusson, the our Gospes thatbecame canonca a irmy depct Jesus as a Jew whose e and actv-tes are geographcay and chronoogcay ocated n a partcuar paceand perod o Jewsh hstory n Roman Judea.41 Unquestonaby, the ourEvangests a wrote rom the standpont o post-Easter ath, and or thema, as we as ther ntended readers, Jesus was the exated Messah, Lord,and Son o God. Ther narratves were a prompted and shaped by thsath-standpont. But, equay, they were concerned to underscore a drectnk wth the human igure o ther narratves. Ths s reflected n the quas-bographca terarygenre that they a oowed (abet n varyng ways. Inshort, these Gospes demonstrate how the convcton that Jesus has beenresurrected, personay and body, had a proound eect n generatng andmantanng a strong nterest n Jesus hstorc mnstry.

By contrast, n versons o eary Chrstanty n whch Jesus death andresurrecton appear not to have had such mportance, and n some caseswere ether dened or radcay re-nterpreted, there seems to have beena correspondng ack o nterest n the Jesus o hstory. For nstance, n

the Gospel o Thomas, we have smpy a coecton o sayngs ascrbed toJesus, wth scant ndcaton o ther provenance or o hs hstorca settng.Lkewse, the Gospel o Truth s essentay a theoogca treatse, reflectngtte nterest n the specics o Jesus e.42

We have noted that or earest beevers, Jesus resurrecton wasemphatcay Gods vadaton ohm, and ths ncuded a poweru reair-maton o Jesus specic dentty as a known igure o hstory. I propose thatthe canonca Gospes, wth ther narratve orm, ther quas-bographca

genre, and the abundant specics o tme, pace, cuture, anguage, andother matters drecty reflect the eects o the convcton that Jesus hadbeen rased body rom death. Indeed, I submt that they cannot have beenwrtten as we have them apart rom the convcton that God has rasedJesus o Nazareth rom the dead and paced hm n heaveny gory. In short,the earest hstorca Jesus quest was probaby ueed by ths convctonabout hs resurrecton.

41) Hurtado,Lord Jesus Chrst, pp. -, quotaton rom p. .42) I oer a uer dscusson o extra-canonca Jesus books n Hurtado, Lord Jesus

Chrst, pp. 7-, and the Gospel o Thomas n partcuar, pp. -79.

2013 hurtado resurrection-hcal jesus

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