EXPLORING THE SCRIPTURES

We will be holding our May Bible Study on Zoom on Wednesday May 18 from 7:30 – 9:00pm.

Topic:

In a recent copy of The Christian Century, (4-6-2022) an article by Ross Allen entitled Do we need a raised body? states:

“..only 45% of American Christians are certain about Jesus’ bodily resurrection, which marks a precipitous 20% drop from what the Harris Poll reported 15 years ago.”

Allen talks about Christians who doubt the resurrection and are uncomfortable reciting the creed. He continues:

“Few have full confidence in the idea of the Resurrection they grew up with , but everyone seems to feel the need to pretend that they do……For some, a myopic insistence on resurrection as reanimation can push hope out of reach.”

And Allen quotes the Bible translator David Bentley Hart who claims that in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul flatly rejects the idea that Jesus rose in the flesh. “Paul… claims that Jesus rose with a body that consisted solely of pneuma, which was understood in terms of what we might recognize as … oxygen or electricity.”

In contrast, in a New York Times article entitled Why it matters that Jesus really did rise from the dead (April 17, 2022), Tish Harrison Warren quotes John Updike’s poem Seven Stanzas of Easter “Make no mistake: if He rose at all, it was as His body, if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall….Let us not mock God with Metaphor.”

I’m with the apostle Paul, she continues, who wrote: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.”

So which is it? A bodily resurrection or rather some kind of dispersed spiritual energy following Jesus’ death? We will look at the gospel accounts of the resurrection and of Paul’s statements about it, and see what conclusions we can draw for ourselves. Below are all the resurrection accounts and Paul’s teaching on resurrection. Find the verses that speak to you most powerfully and bring them to our meeting and we can discuss them.

Links to the articles mentioned: https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/mystical-significance-jesus-resurrection https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/17/opinion/easter-resurrection-jesus.html

Readings:

Mark 9:30-32, Ch 16; Matthew Ch 28; Luke Ch 24; John Ch 20,21; Acts10:34-43; 1 Corinthians Ch 15.

Each session is a stand-alone meeting so join us for whatever sessions you can fit into your schedule. All are welcome.

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