Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §18.5
real basis in the data examined and would simply shift the discussion into quite a
different context where other subject axioms and presuppositions are operative
(and disputed). 216 All that can be said here is that the description of the 'seeing'
was not unreflective but included an element of critical discernment.
d. Again, Why Resurrection?
So, once again, why 'resurrection' ? It remains a question which we cannot answer
with great confidence. But presumably there was something in what the
first witnesses saw which they could bring to expression only with this term 'resurrection'
. There seems to have been something about these Easter experiences
which impacted in a determinative and decisive way in the affirmation, 'God has
raised Jesus from the dead!'
(1) The most obvious alternative is in terms of hallucination, the projection
of wishful thinking, the reaction of disappointed hope. 217 But does that provide a
satisfactory answer to the question Why 'resurrection'? 218 There were precedents
for visions of a dead hero, now seen as exalted to heaven. A vision which
was the product of current ideas regarding exalted martyrs would more likely
have seen Jesus clothed in heavenly majesty. We have such a vision in Rev. 1.12-
16. But in all (most of) the early resurrection appearances Jesus seems to be still
very earthbound. A self-projected vision would presumably be clothed in the imagery
most closely to hand. That would include preeminently the imagery of
Dan. 7.13-14, especially if it had been evoked by Jesus himself. 219 We would
then anticipate visions of Jesus in apocalyptic garb, clothed in dazzling white,
and/or riding on the clouds of heaven. 220
But that is not what we find. On the contrary, it is the unexpectedness of the
216. Arguments based on the fear and despair of the disciples following Jesus' crucifixion,
as portrayed in the Gospels, can be used in support of diverse and divergent psychological
theories. On psychological explanations for Peter's seeing and reconstructions of Paul's mental
state prior to his Damascus road vision (including Lüdemann, Resurrection 82-84, 97-100;
Goulder, 'Did Jesus of Nazareth Rise from the Dead?' 58-63) see Wedderburn, Beyond Resurrection
75-77, 269 n. 205, and below, vol. 2. Contrast Pannenberg: 'The Easter appearances are
not to be explained from the Easter faith of the disciples; rather, conversely, the Easter faith of
the disciples is to be explained from the appearances' {Jesus 96).
217. See above, n. 213. J. J. Pilch, 'Appearances of the Risen Jesus in Cultural Context:
Experiences of Alternate Reality', BTB 28 (1998) 52-60, suggests a further case of altered
states of consciousness or experiences of alternate reality as an appropriate means of interpreting
the biblical accounts (see also above, chapter 11 n. 171 and chapter 15 nn. 243, 338).
218. Catchpole, Resurrection People 208-10.
219. See above, §§16.4c and 17.4c.
220. P. Hoffmann, 'Auferstehung Jesu Christi', TRE 4.478-513 (here 496-97).
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