Jesus Risen [antikvár]

Introduction La seule excuse de vivre, c'est attendre la Résurrection. —Léon Bloy The resurrection from the dead of the crucified Jesus deserves serious attention from any thoughtful person, whether believer or non-believer. It claims a quite extraordinary intervention from God in human history. Millions of Christians have accepted the truth of this claim, which— among other profound consequences—carries a promise of deep and everlasting happiness in a transformed life beyond death. It is clearly a good thing to investigate Jesus' resurrection. In fact, the great importance of the issues involved could even suggest a certain obligation to inquire and reflect about this central article of Christian faith. But where should we "station" ourselves in approaching the question of Jesus' resurrection? The academic captivity of much Western thinking on this topic has privileged out of all proportion the scholarly setting. In the professor's study, the university lecture hall or the seminary classroom, the relevant New Testament texts and the events behind them have been analyzed and reconstructed in a variety of ways over the last two hundred years. More recently academics have also taken to radio and television in order to explain to a wider public what we may conclude about the resurrection from the New Testament. Undoubtedly it was and is essential to interpret properly the biblical texts and establish what lay behind the Easter proclamation of the early Church. At the same time, however, respect for the scholarly desire to settle the historical origins of the Easter message should not allow us to slip over a highly pertinent fact. Millions of people have turned to and interrogated Jesus' resurrection in very different contexts. Alone at home a sudden painful awareness of one's own mortality