Continuing our summary/review of Tom Wright and Marcus Borg's discussion... For other articles in this series visit http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/section/jc1.htm.

These brief excerpts are meant to provoke thought/reflection...

More from Marcus Borg:

The Centrality of Easter

'Easter is utterly central to Christianity. "God raised Jesus from the dead" is the foundational affirmation of the New Testament. About this Tom and I agree. We also agree that the best explanation of the rise of Christianity - indeed the only adequate explanation - is the resurrection of Jesus. We also agree about its central meanings. Put most compactly, I see the meanings of Easter as twofold: Jesus lives and Jesus is Lord. Both claims are essential: Easter means that Jesus was experienced after his death, and that he is both Lord and Christ...'

Two pages later...

'Resuscitation [means] a person dead or believed to be dead comes back to life again...

Resurrection in a first-century Jewish and Christian context is a very different notion... It means, not resumption of a previous existence but entry into a new kind of existence... Thus, whatever happened on Easter, is was not resuscitation...

'I am very comfortable not knowing whether or not the tomb was empty... Paul does not say "And on the third day, they found the tomb empty".' (pp. 129, 131, 132).

-- Shalom! Rowland Croucher