Translating Resurrection

Translating Resurrection examines the debate between William Tyndale and George Joye at the beginning of the English Reformation. Occasioned by Joye’s coining ‘life after this’ for Tyndale’s ‘resurrection’ in Joye’s 1534 edition of Tyndale’s New Testament, this fascinating but little-known debate provides unique insights into the reformers’ beliefs concerning post-mortem existence, such as the question of immortality of the soul, soul-sleep, prayers to saints and the doctrine of Purgatory. By providing a thoroughgoing historical and theological context, the book presents an original look at this important episode from the life of the exiled protestant English community. The result will realign scholarship on Tyndale as well as centuries of neglect of Joye’s contributions to early modern bible translation.

What will our resurrected bodies look like? Will we be young or old? Marked by the physical imperfections of our earthly lives? Does this flesh we carry now rise or is it something other? What does our modern knowledge of the world contribute to our understanding? Brian Schmisek traces developments in the Christian understanding of resurrection, explores the topic in light of biblical data, and mines scientific insights. What results is a synthesis that expresses the essence of the apostolic kerygma in modern terms. Schmisek's impressive combination of solid theological and biblical scholarship with an accessible and welcoming style makes this book an excellent resource for adult education groups, deacon formation classes, undergraduates, and other nonspecialists.

Resurrection in the New Testament is a Festschrift offered to J. Lambrecht on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday. Among the many scholarly interests of Professor Lambrecht the theme of the resurrection seemed best suited to honour his academic achievement. The 27 contributions cover many of the books of the New Testament. The first two articles in this volume discuss influences on the New Testament treatment of resurrection from the Greco-Roman (Dieter Zeller) and Jewish (Daniel J. Harrington) backgrounds. H.J. de Jonge considers visionary experiences of the Old Testament as an interpretive clue for understanding New Testament references to appearances. The articles by Martin Rese, Benoit Standaert, Otfried Hofius, and Gergely Juhasz deal with interpretive questions that range through several books of the New Testament and to varying degrees again bring into discussion previously debated issues. From this point, with the exception of the final two, the articles appear in canonical order. Adelbert Denaux and Wim J.C. Weren treat issues in Matthew, John Gillman in Luke-Acts, Maarten J.J. Menken and Thomas Soding in John, John J. Kilgallen and Florence Morgan Gillman in Acts, Veronica Koperski, Margaret E. Thrall, and Johan S. Vos in the Pauline letters in general, Morna D. Hooker and Eduard Lohse in Romans, Joel Delobel and Peter J. Tomson in 1 Corinthians, Frank J. Matera in 2 Corinthians, John Reumann in Philippians, Raymond F. Collins in the Pastoral Epistles, and Jacques Schlosser in 1 Peter. Joseph Verheyden discusses the witness of Mary Magdalene and the Women at the tomb in the extra-canonical Gospel of Peter. Finally, Barbara Baert contributes a discussion on how the Resurrection was portrayed in visual art during the Middle Ages, with striking illustrative examples.

Singing the Resurrection brings music to the foreground of Reformation studies, as author Erin Lambert explores song as a primary mode for the expression of belief among ordinary Europeans in the sixteenth century, for the embodiment of individual piety, and the creation of new communities of belief. Together, resurrection and song reveal how sixteenth-century Christians--from learned theologians to ordinary artisans, and Anabaptist martyrs to Reformed Christians facing exile--defined belief not merely as an assertion or affirmation but as a continuous, living practice. Thus these voices, raised in song, tell a story of the Reformation that reaches far beyond the transformation from one community of faith to many. With case studies drawn from each of the major confessions of the Reformation--Lutheran, Anabaptist, Reformed, and Catholic--Singing the Resurrection reveals sixteenth-century belief in its full complexity.

Why did Christianity begin, and why did it take the shape it did? To answer this question -- which any historian must face -- renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright focuses on the key points: what precisely happened at Easter? What did the early Christians mean when they said that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead? What can be said today about this belief? This book, third in Wright's series Christian Origins and the Question of God, sketches a map of ancient beliefs about life after death, in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. It then highlights the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions. This, together with other features of early Christianity, forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his "appearances." How do we explain these phenomena? The early Christians' answer was that Jesus had indeed been bodily raised from the dead; that was why they hailed him as the messianic "son of God." No modern historian has come up with a more convincing explanation. Facing this question, we are confronted to this day with the most central issues of the Christian worldview and theology.