The event of Jesus' resurrection is like the event of creation: There were no eye-witnesses.
So how does one make sense of the story of the resurrection-or rather stories, for not one but many diverse reports survive from early Christianity? Brandon Scott suggests that we must begin by erasing all Christian art about the resurrection from our memory. And then forget all the sermons we heard at Easter.
The best way to understand the resurrection, he argues, is to arrange the texts chronologically and observe how the story itself developed.
The Resurrection of Jesus: A Soucebook begins with just such a list, compiled with commentaries by Robert W. Funk.
It proceeds to a report of the Jesus Seminar's votes on the resurrection, followed by a collection and discussion by Robert Price of resurrection stories found in the Greek culture of Jesus' day, and an in-depth study by Arthur Dewey of a little-known resurrection story in the Gospel of Peter.
Philosopher Thomas Sheehan concludes the volume with two essays that help put the pieces back together again, in ways that make sense in the modern world.
