Resurrection: Myth or Reality?

by John Shelby Spong

Book Overview

Using approaches from the Hebrew interpretive tradition to discern the actual events surrounging Jesus' death, Bishop Spong questions the hitorical validity of literal narrative concerned the Ressurection. He asserts that the resurrection story was born in an experience that opened the disciples' eyes to the reality of God and the meaning of Jesus of Nazareth. Spong traces the Christian origins of anti-Semitism to the Church's fabrication of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060674296
• ISBN13: 9780060674298
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Christian myth?

Bishop writes this honest book to investigate the resurrection: myth or reality. Missionaries go to end of world to convince and covert into the flock. Jesus is the prince of peace and why the American politicians in his name employ awe and shock to bring democracy. Does the world is more peaceful and democratic? Be(lie)ve is still include lies! This book give you different perspective and understanding on Western tradition.

Outstanding!

The service was the best I have ever had! The book "Resurection, Myth or Reality" is superior.

Essential Reading

John Shelby Spong is an Episcopal Bishop and the author of several books, among them Born of a Woman, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and This Hebrew Lord. In the current book Spong examines the most minute details about the Resurrection in an attempt to re-visit the "Easter" story that is at the core of Christianity. Spong's unique contribution to this analysis is his deep familiarity with Hebrew literature and the midrash tradition, the lens through which the all Jewish people of the first century interpreted the gospels. Part One (Chapters 1-3) is a 40+ page introduction to the study of the gospels, the use of words, and the midrash method. Part Two (Chapters 4-9) is a detailed study of each of the gospels as well as the epistles of Paul. Part Three examines some of the major images present in the Resurrection story (e.g., the suffering servant, the son of man. In Part Four (Chapters 14-18) Spong provides his own interpretation of what the gospels really say, and in Part Five he provides us with an idea of what the resurrection story means to him on a personal level. This book is a monumental work of scholarship and it will completely revise your idea about biblical research as well as the story of the resurrection. Literalists beware, this is not the book for you. But anyone with an open mind who has ever questioned the inconsistencies in the gospel accounts (e.g., did Jesus appear to the disciples in Galilee or in Jerusalem? Did one, two,three or more women go to the tomb?) or wondered about the strange and impossible to explain issues (e.g., cursing the fig tree, the cowardly disciple who becomes the Rock upon which the church is founded) will find this book a true eye opener. The book is well written, but the notes are sketchy and far too few. There is an extensive bibliography and a detailed index of topics. The book will appeal to beginning students as well as the most advanced scholars. Bottom line - there is no more engaging or provocative book on the resurrection. This book belongs in everyone's library.

Notes on: "RESURRECTION: MYTH OR REALITY?"

A common response we may have, after reading some of the radical conclusions reached by modern theologians such as Dr. Spong, is to recoil from their studied analyses. After wading through innumerable arguments that cast doubts on some of the most cherished of our Christian traditions, we often feel as though we'd like to ask them, "All right, if you don't believe all these things, just what is it you do believe?" If many of the things which we have been accustomed to identifying as essential to Christian belief are actually inventions of the early church rather than a heritage from Jesus, just what should define a Christian? In this book, Bishop Spong reviews evidence that the passion narratives of the New Testament (which were written down from 40 to 70 years after Jesus' crucifixion) represent the views and interpretations that were evolving among fledging Christian communities rather than literal, eye-witness accounts of historical events. However, the passion events have become the basis for creeds of Christian churches; so, asserting that they didn't actually occur can be unsettling, to say the least. For instance, Spong raises the likelihood that Jesus was never placed in an identifiable tomb, there was no Easter morning discovery of an empty tomb, no heavenly messengers proclaiming his divinity, no post-crucifixion physical appearances of Jesus to his disciples and no later ascension witnessed by them. Thus, none of the events cited by the early evangelists or accepted as dogma by the new church as proofs of Jesus' unique divinity actually occurred, according to Spong. I think we are justified, then, in inquiring whether or not Spong can explain 1) how, 40 years after the fact, most of those who were followers of Jesus accepted those stories as examples of what they believed about Jesus, and 2) how the transformation of the disciples came about from being a band of terrified followers of a shamefully executed leader to becoming the dynamic proponents of a charismatic gospel which declared faith in a God whose love made servitude, pain and even death bearable. The dogma that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion was a later interpretation, according to Spong. He derives evidence from the scriptures that the disciple's conviction of Jesus' continued presence came to some of the disciples after they had returned to Galilee. It involved Peter as a central figure and was associated strongly with the common meal that Jesus had practiced. It was not related to any definite time period (e.g., 3 days) after the crucifixion and was unrelated to Jesus' burial or tomb, if any. So what could have brought this small band of frightened, leaderless disciples to the conviction of Jesus' continuing presence? Spong's scenario of transformation goes something like this: Peter, Andrew, James and John return disheartened to Galilee and resume their livelihood of fishing. They share their sorrow and memories and find it comforting to b

The Resurrection versus Bodily Resuscitation

Do not be mislead by those who, upset at the arguments presented here, therefore give this book poor reviews. Spong does not, as they claim, deny the Resurrection. (Neither would Spong ever disrespect the Jewish religion, as one reviewer here seems to do.) Indeed, to deny the Resurrection is to deny Christianity; this Spong agrees. But he does differentiate between the Divine Resurrection and mere bodily resuscitation. Read the book to find out why.

Spong Answers: Myth AND Reality

Spong attempts to distinguish between the myths surrounding Jesus' "resurrection" and the reality of what he calls "the Easter Moment," which the myths "point to." He quite persuasively reconstructs what may well be the actual sequence of events leading up to and following "The Easter Moment." Jesus was probably crucified just before, during, or just after the Jewish festival of Passover. If the Jews had any input into the decision to put Jesus to death, their consideration of the matter did NOT occur during Passover. They may have concurred in the decision before Passover, or after Passover, or (most likely) not at all, but it would have been a major scandal for them to consider the question DURING Passover. They would have been horrified at the thought of desecrating the holy days of Passover by conducting such deliberations then, so it can be confidently asserted that they did not do so. The "Easter Moment," Spong argues, occurred not in Jerusalem, but in the vicinity of Lake Chinnereth (Galilee), quite possibly in a fishing boat on the lake itself. It occurred sometime during the summer following the Crucifixion, or possibly early in the fall. Read the book to find out who experienced the Easter Moment, and led the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and when. In the final pages, Spong says that he has led the reader to what he believes is the true beginning of Christianity, and that the reader must now decide for herself (himself) whether to answer as Spong has with a resounding "yes" and accept the reality of the resurrection as he has described it, or to answer "no" and walk away from it. This reader could do neither. While I am convinced that Spong's reconstruction of events is the most plausible account I have found, I cannot feel certain that Spong's interpretation of those events is correct, but neither can I feel certain that it is wrong. Spong's theology is certainly more plausible than the theology of those who insist that the lectionaries of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are factually inerrant biographies of the life of Jesus. Spong's theology also leads him to "love wastefully" all of humanity, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and so on. But if Spong's "Christianity" becomes the wave of the future, how can it fail to be distorted and perverted by the commercial purveyors of "Christianity" (the "love Jesus and send me money" crowd), just as Jesus' message of all-embracing love was perverted to justify the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and more recently, the systematic raping of Islamic women in Bosnia? watziznaym@gmail.com