Opening Statements
White speaks first. They open by referencing Paul as talking about having the story passed down to him. White says this indicates that Paul is recording a first hand witness’s event which is not clouded by time. The story speaks plainly about the death of Jesus which is a historically verifiable occurrence so there is no reason to think of this in any other sense than factual occurrence. It follows that his burial and resurrection are spoken of in the same way and therefore factual occurrences. White believes that Jesus Christ was dead and then rose physically, bodily from the dead in a physical and incorruptible form from his grave on the third day. Paul’s affirms that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then his preaching is in vain. White argues that what is now translated as earthly body and spiritual body at the end of Corinthians originally meant earthly corruptible man reborn as the spiritual led man, but still with physical form.
Marcus opens first by saying that he does not want to be labeled in this debate as the negative to the opposition’s affirmative. Rather he would like to be labeled as alternative affirmative because he affirms the utter importance of the resurrection of Jesus and of Easter. Without Easter Jesus would simply be another crucified Jew in an empire that crucified many Jews for their loyalty to God. Marcus affirms that he is a Christian who is deeply involved in the life of the church and who is committed to the renewal of Christianity in our time. At the center of the Christian life is a relationship with God as known in Jesus. This is what separates us from Buddhists or Jews.
Marcus lays out his point of disagreement in asking whether the audience and his opponents think the events of the resurrection story are ones that could be photographed or video taped. In other words, do we think that the empty tomb or the appearances of Jesus to his followers are the kinds of events that a disinterested observer would have seen if they had been there. If your answer is no these stories can still be found to be profoundly meaningful. Marcus is unconcerned with whether the audience believes that the tomb was photographably empty or not. Marcus wants to ask and offer an answer to the question. What do the Easter stories mean?
There are two primary meanings Marcus hears in the Easter stories. First, Jesus lives. Secondly, Jesus is Lord. To speak to the first meaning; Jesus continues to be experienced by his followers in the way that followers of Jesus have continued to experience him throughout the centuries as a living figure of the present. Marcus thinks his followers had visions of the risen Christ. Paul’s experience on the Damascus road was clearly a vision and Marcus does not think his opponents would deny that. Visions are not all hallucinations. Some visions are psychotic but some visions are disclosures of something that is real. Visions can include a sense of being touched or a tactile sense. The figures in a vision might even interact with the tangible world and eat something. This is the first affirmation of Jesus as Marcus sees it. Jesus lives, he is a figure of the present not simply of the past. You won’t find Jesus among the dead because he continues to be with us. The second meaning of Easter; Jesus is lord. God has raised Jesus to God’s right hand. This is mainly metaphorical because God does not have hands or feet, God has raised Jesus to a position of power and authority. God has vindicated Jesus against the contemporary powers of the world primarily the Roman imperialist empire. Good Friday is the Roman imperial ‘No’ to Jesus where Easter is God’s ‘Yes’ to Jesus and what he stood for. The meanings of Easter are both deeply personal and political. Personal because the path of Christianity is about transformation or death of a former self and rebirth of a new self and political in that the affirmation that Jesus is Lord and the powers of this world are not.
Most Christians have been asked “do you believe Jesus Christ is your personal lord and savior?” Marcus think the Easter stories also ask the implied question “do you believe Jesus Christ is your political lord and savior?” Both meanings are there and both meanings are at the heart of what Easter means.
Renihan speaks about how presuppositions are foundational to these arguments. His are that knowing and God are of vital importance to being Christian. The text is of importance for the discussion. The book of Acts references the resurrection of Jesus nearly thirty times. This text represents how the followers of Jesus viewed the events of Easter one generation after the events. Luke uses the present living tense when speaking about Jesus although he does not mention resurrection. Reinhan points out the mocking disbelief given to Paul when he speaks of the resurrection and says he would not have been given such mocking disbelieving responses if he was unclear and was not trying to relate a physical resurrection. Paul later exploits the differing opinions on resurrection of Jewish people sitting in judgement of him.
John Dominic Crossan speaks next and begins by explaining his name. His civil name is simply John Crossan, Dominic meaning belonging to the Lord is his chosen religious name which he goes by and shortens to Dom which is an abbreviation D.O.M. Deo Optimo Maximo meaning ‘to god the strongest and best.’ Dom insists this is a life commitment otherwise the debate is simply a battle of concepts. Being reborn into the Roman Catholic tradition in Ireland in the 1950’s Dom argues makes today’s born again rebirth look like a Sunday picnic in comparison. The Roman Catholic tradition in Ireland was made up almost entirely of presuppositions the church told you how and what to believe, no problems, no questions. After 5 years then Dom started reading and teaching the bible and the New Testament. Seeing that there were four versions of the same Gospel and looking at their relationships Dom’s presuppositions started to change. Dom disagrees that presuppositions are a static, non-moving entity they are actually interactive with data of the bible and the gospels of the New Testament. Yes, presuppositions are foundational but they are also organic and interactive. This conclusion gives Dom problems with papal infallibility.
Turning to the resurrection. If your faith as a Jew was that God owned the world and the world belonged to God and your experience as a Jew was that the world was unjust and you were getting most of its brutality then your faith was that a day would come that God would clean up the mess of the world, that belief is called eschatology. The first act that God would preform before that great clean up would be the bodily resurrection of the martyrs since the martyrs had been harmed in their bodies. This text doesn’t specify whether they are speaking literally or metaphorically which is of course at the heart of our debate. In the time of John the baptist the kingdom of God, the great clean up is eminent, within the contemporary generation. Jesus said ‘no,’ it has begun and you are called to participate in it. ‘What if we choose not to participate in it, then has it really begun?’ Dom thinks Jesus’s answer to this question would have been ‘No, you’re waiting for God and God is waiting for you’. It is a collaborative and interactive cleanup. It can be said in three ways in the New Testament. One, the kingdom of god has already begun, which is absolutely meaningless unless we are called upon to cooperate in it. Secondly, the son of man who opposes the great kingdoms of Daniel VII is already among us. Thirdly, the general resurrection has already begun with Jesus. So when Dom goes to read first Corinthians he reads it with this matrix of understanding. Jesus’s resurrection signals the beginning of the general resurrection of the martyrs and that the great cleanup is upon us and you are called to participate but it will not happen without your participation. If you do not participate then you have no right to speak of the resurrection of Jesus. Dom asks how does your life exemplify your participation in the great cleanup and therefore show testament that Jesus has been resurrected.
Open Discussion
Dr. White opens with “What do you believe happened to the physical body of Jesus Christ?” Dom’s answer is “I do not think they knew.” Reading the stories from Mark into Luke and Mathew into John the burials are increasingly more proper. The earlier followers probably don’t know what happened to the body of Jesus. Mathew and Luke read Mark and see the changes they have to make. When you don’t know what happens you usually fall back on generalities, what you would expect to happen. Their best hope would have been that a pious Jew buried Jesus out of general respect for the sabbath, that would mean that the pious Jew would also have to bury anyone else also crucified with Jesus. Therefore it seems strange that the tomb would be empty. Were the other men crucified with Jesus also resurrected? Why would early Christians then say that Jesus had been raised? They had learned through experience and participation not just theologically that the kingdom had already begun and its trans formative power, they had also experienced visions that were real. These two reasons explain for Dom as a historian why early Christians would have said that Jesus was raised from the dead. Marcus generally agrees the single most important point being that the truth of Easter is not dependent on there being a tomb or not that was empty or not.