Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§18.4 Et Resurrexit
himself. It is rather that Paul seems to refer or allude to the appearance on the Damascus
road on other occasions as well as 1 Cor. 15.8. 'Have I not seen Jesus our
Lord?'he asks in 1 Cor. 9.1. His talk of'seeing the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ', and of 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ' (2 Cor. 4.4, 6) probably alludes to his great light experience on the
Damascus road (n. 138). 139 And in Gal. 1.16 he expresses his conviction and
gratitude that God has been pleased 'to reveal his Son in me' in a context where
he is evidently thinking of his conversion and commissioning as an apostle. 140
18.4. The Tradition within the Traditions
a. The Diversity of the Traditions
Can we penetrate through these various traditions to their origin? In comparison
with the Synoptic tradition of Jesus' mission, the prospects are not bright. 141
There are too many idiosyncratic and puzzling curious features about the data. 142
(1) So many of the appearances have only single attestation: to Cleopas
and his unidentified companion, to the 500-plus, to James, and to 'all the apostles'
— four of the twelve appearances listed above. In addition, the appearance
to Peter is referred to twice, but as a bare mention each time, unless we include
John 21.15-19.
(2) Where there is some overlap it is almost tangential — particularly in
the case of the appearances to Mary /women at/near the tomb, and the appearance
to the eleven in Galilee. The only substantively overlapping traditions are the
varied accounts of appearances to the rest of the twelve in Jerusalem. There a
core is evident, more substantial as a core, indeed, than any other shared Synoptic/Johannine
pericope.
(3) On the other hand, it is precisely the appearances to the eleven which
pose the question 'Where?' most sharply — Jerusalem or Galilee? Some divergence
in location is to be expected in the diversity of performance. But overall
139. See, e.g., M. E. Thrall, 2 Corinthians (ICC; Edinburgh: Clark, 1994, 2000) 1.316-
20 (bibliography in n. 878).
140. See, e.g., my Theology of Paul 177-79.
141. 'It is quite remarkable that an almost hour-by-hour remembrance prevailed for the
death and burial of Jesus but an almost total discrepancy prevailed for what was, I would presume,
even more important, namely, the extraordinary return of Jesus from beyond the
grave . . .' (Crossan, Historical Jesus 395).
142. As noted above (chapter 4 n. 23), Reimarus's treatment still constitutes the classic
enumeration of the contradictions within the resurrection narratives; for a summary see
Wedderburn, Beyond Resurrection 24-25.
857