Bock

Hengel’s Jesus Book and the Resurrection 03.10.08

March 10, 2008 / 8 Comments

Martin Hengel’s new historical Jesus book, Jesus und das Judentum, concludes with a discussion of the witnesses to the resurrection. He begins with a careful walk through 1 Cor 15:3-8. He sees this confession Paul passed on as coming from the Jerusalem community, pointing to the eyewitness roots of the tradition.

Martin Hengel’s new historical Jesus book, Jesus und das Judentum, concludes with a discussion of the witnesses to the resurrection. He begins with a careful walk through 1 Cor 15:3-8. He sees this confession Paul passed on as coming from the Jerusalem community, pointing to the eyewitness roots of the tradition. He defends the confession as not being about a pure spiritual body, but involving a transformation of a real body into a spiritual body. He argues that the appearances to the women are omitted because they do not have a credible witness role in the culture. The resurrection leads to real appearances, and are not visions. This was for Paul and those of the confession a real event in space and time. It is not simply a "word event." It is presented as an historical account. It has historical intent, and is not just "gospel".

As such, Hengel is making a important claim, for a historical Jesus work, that the resurrection is an event rooted in both history and the preaching of the church about such history.

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8 Comments

  • Matt Larsen

    March 14, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    spiritual?
    “He defends the confession as not being about a pure spiritual body, but involving a transfomation of a real body into a spiritual body.” What does “a trasformation of a real body into a spiritual body” mean? Does this mean that Hengel understands Jesus to have been resurrected with a real, physical, and also spiritual body? Or, put another way, does he mean that Jesus was resurrected as a spirit? Or is “spiritual” not in opposition to physical?

    Does Hengel bring a new argument to the academic table, or does he bolster already existing arguments?

    I appreciate his observation about the reason why the women were left out of the list of people who saw Jesus.

    • bock

      March 15, 2008 at 3:45 am

      spiritual? dlb

      This means that Jesus had a physical presence but transformed enough to negotiate through barriers. So spiritual is not in contrast to some form of physicality.

      dlb

  • JOY JOHN

    March 15, 2008 at 5:31 am

    Personal
    Dear Dr.Bock,
    Greetings from India.
    I am teaching in Evangelical Theological Seminary of Asian Christian Aacdemy. I read your postings. I do enjoy them.Thanks for your valuable comments and thorough evaluation of issues.
    Yours in His love
    JOY JOHN

  • Patrica E Coley

    May 31, 2008 at 9:33 am

    “Does this mean that Hengel
    “Does this mean that Hengel understands Jesus to have been resurrected with a real, physical, and also spiritual body?” I’m not really sure, but I think the answer is yes

  • bock

    May 31, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Does this mean? dlb

    Patricia:

    I think it means that for Hengel Jesus was not an apparition. He was present and more to him than a spiritual presence; he also had a material presence.

    dlbÂ