Raymond Brown was one of the great biblical scholars of the
last third of the 20th century. Brown was a 'critical' scholar who was not
afraid to ask hard questions about the scriptures. He was also a faithful Roman
Catholic. This is from his historical-critical examination of the resurrection
narratives of the gospels:
From a critical study of the
biblical evidence I would judge that Christians can and indeed should continue
to speak of a bodily resurrection. Our earliest ancestors in the faith
proclaimed a bodily resurrection in the sense that they did not believe that
Jesus’ body had corrupted in the tomb. However, and this is equally important,
Jesus’ risen body was no longer a body as we know bodies, bound by the
dimensions of space and time. It is best to follow Paul’s description [in 1
Corinthians 15] of risen bodies as spiritual, not natural or physical
(psychos); he can even imply that these bodies are no longer flesh and blood (1
Corinthians 15:50). Small wonder he speaks of a mystery! In our fidelity to
proclaiming the bodily resurrection of Jesus, we should never become so
defensively governed by apologetics that we do not do justice to this element
of transformation and mystery. Christian truth is best served when equal
justice is done to the element of continuity implied in bodily resurrection and
to the element of eschatological transformation.
The understanding that the
resurrection was bodily in the sense that Jesus’ body did not corrupt in the
tomb has important theological implications. The resurrection of Jesus was
remembered with such emphasis in the church because it explained what God had
done for men. Through the resurrection men came to believe in God in a new way;
man’s relationship to God was changed; a whole new vision of God and His
intention for men was made possible; the whole flow of time and history was
redirected. Nevertheless, a stress on the bodily resurrection keeps us from
defining this resurrection solely in terms of what God has done for men. The
resurrection was and remains, first of all, what God has done for Jesus. It was
not an evolution in human consciousness, nor was it the disciples’ brilliant
insight into the meaning of the crucifixion–it was the sovereign action of God
glorifying Jesus of Nazareth. Only because God has done this for His Son are
new possibilities opened for His many children who have come to believe in what
He has done.
– The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, p. 127-128
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