The Burial of Jesus: What Does History Have to Do with Faith? [Kindle Edition]

No matter addressed in the questions about the "historical Jesus" is of more interest and more crucial in assessing the claims about him than the circumstances of his execution and burial, and their aftermath. The author offers solid insight into the vital distinction which is the book's subtitle, and raises thought provoking questions about the main subject. Its chief shortcoming, however, is the theological inadequacy of finally ascribing the cause of the first disciples' belief that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead to a "religious experience" like John Wesley's "heart strangely warmed" which the author himself once experienced, and his concluding assertion that valid belief in Jesus' resurrection can be separated from the question of what happened to his buried corpse. I continue to fail to see how any 1st century Jew would have been able to believe in (let alone be martyred for) anything remotely approaching the r e s u r r e c t i o n of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead if it had had nothing at all to do with his corpse. His encouraging us that the initial appearances of Jesus to the apostles and others need to be reduced to the visionary kind of experience Saul of Tarsus had at his conversion is misleading, in my estimation, despite Paul's including his experience as the climax of the official list of appearances he seems to be reproducing in I Cor. 15. McGrath, when all is said and done, seems finally to come down in the camp that believes that Jesus' resurrection is primarily something that happened to the first disciples, not Jesus. That seems for the author an adequate basis for his own Christian faith. I'm happy for him, but it sure doesn't account for the rise of Christianity, let alone answer the question of why anyone should give ultimate allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth among the scores of "spiritual" greats, living and dead.

This book is a simple and easy read for anyone who is familiar with the biblical stories of Jesus burial following his crucifixion. McGrath uses these stories to give the reader a basic introduction into what historians can and cannot say about what probably happened to the body of Jesus in the subsequent days following his death. After reading this book even the most ardent Christian should be able to understand why, as a matter of historical inquiry, positing an actual physical resurrection to explain what happened to Jesus body is outside the realm of the historian.

Ultimately, McGrath's point is that for a person of Christian faith, the resurrection is more about hope and eternal life in God here and now and not about waiting for God to usher in some afterlife at a date to be named later. McGrath makes the point that, ironically, the idea of a physical resurrection was originally written in to Christian history to combat the very view that is so prevalent today; that there is something wrong and less than perfect with God's creation. Physical resurrection was about this world make right by God, not about living happily ever after in heaven.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While it only scratches the surface of the historical inquiry into Jesus and his life, for someone new to the topic this book will not only be a good start into learning the ways historians approach the question, but also offers fresh theological insight into new meaning for the resurrection of Jesus on his followers in this present day.