cheenc03a.pdf

RESURREOTION- AND ASCENSION-NARRATIVES
body whilst the aid body remained in the grave, but in ! coursc nnd did not require to be made known by a
the sense that it came into existence through a change I special revelation. But ahat ii aimed at in putting
nrought an the buried body. On this explanation the foruard this view is much rather to establish the
resurrection ha5 as much ;m entirely miraculour char- complete difference between Jesus and all other men
acier as it has on either of the other two theories already which has been from the first claimed for him by the
co~lsidered.
arieitioll of his resurrection, but yet to be able to
In onler to escape so far as may be from miracle diape~iac with miracle. This can never succeed.
of the character described in the preceding section, If a really non-miraculous explanation is desired, then
31, Raswec- and, generally, to be rid of the question apart from subjective visions (of which more hereafter)
of the corpreity of the risen Jesur,
two possibilities present themselves.
spLit tion of only, the
33, Nan-
~ecou~e is often had to the view that
(a) The hypothesir that Jesuswas only
~t \VRJ only the spirit of Jesus that rose miraculous
explanstiona~ppa~ently dead forlnd many supporters
and appeared to his followers. Here opinion is divided
aa to whether such a thing is possible without a miracle
or nor. Any one who holds appearances of thespirits of
the departed to be possible in the natural order will he
able to with a miracle here, ~h~
majority. however, maintain the negative. Moreover.
silch persons declare that the appearances of Jesus to
hii djifer from the manner in
,,,hich fl,e ,f the day holds appear.
ances of spirits to occur. They find themselver compelled
accordingly, if it was merely the of Jesus
alive and manifested itself, to a
miracle whereby it was made visible.
It ia to be observed, moreover, that thir view-that
Only the lives on-ir in no respect dicerent from
doctrine of theimmortality of the soul in this,
that in the particular case in question the continuance
,f the life of the spirit begins only on the third day
death. This, a collocation of quite
heterogeneous ideas, The of the doctrine of
immortality lies in thir, that the life of the soul is never
interrupted, and thus there can be no thought at all of
revivification after remaining for a time in a state of
death. Revivification can occur only in the case of a
subject that is capable of dying-in other words, in a
body. This is a lrwirh idea, that of immortality is
~r&k. The1atter.i~ adopted in the Book of ~isdbm,
and Paul comer near it in 1 Cor. 51-8 (S 15 b) : for the
original apostles it is from the outset excluded (5 17 r).
It i~ discovered to be necessary, accordingly, to go a
step farther. The belief that the risen Jesur actually
, Objeotive did appear is frankly given up.
(a) The disciples, we are told, saw
Visions' nothing rcal: neither the body of Jesus.
clothed with earthlv or heavenlv attributes. nor the soirit
(excluding 1" the days of rationalism, and it has
also been espoused by a writer so modern
visions),
as Hase (Gerch. Jeru, 1876, 4 irz).
That crucified perwnr taken down from the cmss while still
in life have been able to recover ir resrified by Herodotus ( 71~~)
and Josephur (Vit. 75 end, q 12oJ). In n case of reemrng
de=th indeed it is hardc7 credlh~e, and to one,r =id the
wvnderful power of herlxng which Jesus exercised on behalf of
other crronr is in this connection qute fmmsric. More tbmn
( p:!=d JJerur pre=?red himself merely p* one who had =I1
ut dred on the sros h1r . earance would hare produc~d the
impresrhn ofweaknesran8~ elplcnnee, not that of a conqueror
of death and the e-ve, which nevertheless was the character he
required to present if he war to inrpire his followers to a worldconquering
faith. Finally, what could they say, if he neverthe.
lerh in the end died after all? To escape the force of this
pueicion the assumption var that he had withdrawn himreif
Into s~lituds, perhsp into some cave in ordcr that his death
might nor become known. It is obvious that the theory of a
seeming death is not enough: it is nese,inry to asrumc nlro
vnriour m=chinmtionr, whether on the t ofj~ur
himself or on
the par, of his ,dixipl=l, whether at tEtime of his leaving the
sepulchre or with a new to covering the worri rignr of weak.
nee before he presented himself to larger circler of his fullowen.
In this aspect the presznt hrnthcsir approximater-
(6) The hypothesis that, althongh Jesus did not
recover, the disciples spread abroad, and found credence
for, the nunour that he was dire. Apart from all
other di6culfie~, such a hypothesis is from the outset
untenable for two reaons : not only would the disciples
immediatelv after the death have been unable to
summvn courage for so gigantic a task as the theory
implies, but also at a later date they would not have
had courage in perwxtion to surrender their lives for
such a faith
Thus subjective visions are dl that remain now to
31. * he dealt with. Let us endeavour first of
all to determine their nature in general ao
Of subjac- tar as this is practicable, without a too
tiyeVinioxl. mi""tedircussionofth~ronditinn