The Resurrection of Jesus Archive
If the books of the New Testament were printed in the order in which they were originally composed, Paul’s letters would appear first. His earliest letters-1-2 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1-2 Corinthians, and Romans-were written sometime between A.D. 49 and 57 (perhaps even earlier for Galatians), before Matthew, Luke, and John were written and nearly contemporary with the Gospel of Mark. Therefore, the earliest written accounts of the Jesus Christ‘s last hours on earth-the Last Supper on Thursday, the fateful crucifixion on Friday, and the glorious resurrection on the first Easter Sunday-are found in Paul’s letters.
The earliest explicit references to these events are found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, written about A.D. 57. Paul noted, “I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is... Read the rest of this entry »
The Greek term (kerygma) means “proclamation” and refers to the early preaching tradition about Jesus the Christ, particularly his salvific death and resurrection. The speeches of Peter and Paul in Acts and the letters attributed to them reveals traces of this tradition, which may have been important source material for the writers of the Gospels.
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The Resurrection Narratives are linked to the Passion Narratives and cover the resurrection appearance to Jesus Christ‘s disciples (see Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-20; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-15)
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The pressing question for those who dismiss the Shroud of Turin as a fake and those who profess its authenticity is what elements of its existence can reasonably be proven. Although surprising to some, the fact is that very little about the shroud can be proven.
The Shroud of Turin is purportedly the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. The cloth measures about fourteen feet long and about three-and-a-half feet wide. Recently, a group of scholars reexamined the shroud, using the most modern methods, and found that an earlier carbon-14 dating, which placed the date of the shroud in the early Middle Ages, tested only a section of the cloth that was a later addition and may have overlooked the fact that some of the fibers actually date from the first century. Under certain lighting conditions, the shroud also seems to some to show the impression of the face of a grown man. Forensic tests on the shroud also suggest that it once covered the body of a man who had been brutally beaten on the head,... Read the rest of this entry »
The observance of the feast of Passover extends back to the time when the children of Israel were commanded to obey it as part of their delivery from Egyptian captivity. The festival, beginning on Nisan 14 (modern March-April) with the sacrifice of the lambs, lasted for seven days. The celebration of the Passover-the event also known as the Last Supper in the synoptic Gospels-began with the sacrifice of the paschal lambs in the temple, portions of which were to be eaten as part of the Passover meal. According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ died on the Friday of Passover week and was resurrected on the first day of the week (Sunday) during the festival (Matthew 27-28:1). Therefore, the celebration of Easter traditionally fell in Western Christian churches on the first Sunday after the start of the Passover feast.
This simple solution, however, is fraught with difficulties. The month of the Passover feast was to begin with the new moon-determined in the first century by sight only-after the... Read the rest of this entry »
