On
this third day of the Octave of Easter, a bit more on Resurrection from Raymond Brown:
In our anticipation of God’s ultimate plan, one
of two models is usually followed: the model of eventual destruction and new
creation, or the model of transformation. Will the material world pass away all
be made new, or will somehow the world be transformed and changed into the city
of God? The model that the Christian chooses will have an effect on his
attitude toward the world and toward the corporeal. What will be destroyed can
have only a passing value; what is to be transformed retains its importance. Is
the body a shell that one sheds, or is it an intrinsic part of the personality
that will forever identify a person? If Jesus, body corrupted in the tomb so
that his victory over death did not include bodily resurrection, then the model
of destruction and new creation is indicated. If Jesus rose bodily from the
dead, then the Christian model should be one of transformation. The problem of
the bodily resurrection is not just an example of Christian curiosity; it is
related to a major theme in theology: God’s ultimate purpose in creating.
– The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, p. 128-129
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Raymond Brown on the Bodily Resurrection
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