CFS-WB-CH07
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3. N.T. Wright’s Historical Analysis of the Resurrection<br />
N.T. Wright, a contemporary Anglican New Testament scholar and<br />
Pauline theologian, offers two arguments for the historicity of Jesus’<br />
Resurrection: the remarkable success of Christian messianism and the<br />
Christian mutations of Second Temple Judaism. These two aspects of<br />
the early Church are difficult to account for without the Resurrection.<br />
Messianic Movements:<br />
Groups which formed around<br />
leaders who claimed to be<br />
God’s promised Messiah, and<br />
which inevitably died out after<br />
the leader’s death.<br />
The Remarkable Success of Christian Messianism<br />
The first historical anomaly central to N.T. Wright’s argument is that<br />
there were many messianic movements in the time of Christ, each<br />
separate and distinct from that of Jesus and His followers. Wright lists<br />
several of these: “Judas the Galilean, Simon, Athronges, Eleazar ben<br />
Deinaus and Alexander, Menahem, Simon bar Giora, and bar-Kochba.”<br />
In every case, a charismatic leader attracted an enthusiastic following,<br />
the leader died (usually at the hands of the authorities), his followers<br />
scattered, and the messianic movement soon died. One example of<br />
this pattern is even found in the Gospels with John the Baptist.<br />
Christianity is the one dramatic exception to this pattern. After the<br />
public humiliation and execution of their leader, the disciples did not<br />
fade away. Instead, they began preaching throughout the surrounding<br />
countries that their crucified leader is in fact the Messiah, has succeeded<br />
in fulfilling the ancient prophecies, rose from the dead, and is divine.<br />
Even more shockingly, their messianic movement grew exponentially.<br />
In a few generations, Christianity became the dominant religion of the<br />
Roman Empire. Where did this momentum come from? What inspired<br />
the Apostles with such conviction?<br />
Wright believes that the Apostles would have had no credibility with<br />
this message among the Jewish or Gentile people were it not for two<br />
extraordinary occurrences — (1) the Apostles’ ability to perform healings<br />
and miracles on a regular basis by the power of the Holy Spirit, and (2)<br />
the fact that they worked these miracles in the name of Jesus. As the<br />
Apostles explained, if Jesus was not risen from the dead as they had<br />
preached, then how could they work miracles through His Spirit in His<br />
name? Given that no other messianic movement worked regular miracles<br />
in the name of their messiah (including the movement of John<br />
the Baptist), it explains how Christianity’s preaching of the Resurrection<br />
was so credible and, therefore, how the early Church grew so rapidly.<br />
This historical perspective gives evidence not only of the power of the<br />
Holy Spirit in the ministry of the Apostles, but also of the Resurrection<br />
of Jesus.<br />
In a few<br />
generations,<br />
Christianity<br />
became the<br />
dominant<br />
religion of the<br />
Roman Empire.<br />
© Sophia Institute for Teachers<br />
Unit 3, Chapter 7: Evidence for Jesus’ Divinity<br />
135